Detroit Historical Society. From Detroit’s founding in 1701 to 1860, the city did not have an organized police department.
In the early 19th century, Detroit was considered a garrison city. The county sheriff enforced the laws and army commanders formed local militias to protect the public. Detroit must improve 911 response times. One of our Detroit News colleagues collapsed in our bureau at Detroit City Hall Thursday with stroke-like symptoms.
And while we typically don’t use this space to air personal grievances, the incident raises larger issues affecting all who work and live in the city. It took 25 minutes for an ambulance to respond to the 911 call. Again, the call was made from City Hall in downtown Detroit. And it still took nearly half an hour for help to arrive. Mayor Mike Duggan called the slow response time unacceptable. “Obviously that’s something of deep concern to everybody who works here,” the mayor said. It’s encouraging that the mayor says reducing response time is a top priority of his administration.
To get there, the city is increasing the number of units on the road. “At that point, we’ll be running the fire department we should have here,” Duggan says. It is essential that progress continue on reducing response times. In this case, our colleague’s prognosis was good as of late Thursday. Detroit pays high price for arson onslaught. Detroit — Arson is a raging epidemic in Detroit, destroying neighborhoods and lives as the city tries to emerge from bankruptcy.
Even amid a historic demolition blitz, buildings burn faster than Detroit can raze them. Last year, the city had 3,839 suspicious fires and demolished 3,500 buildings, according to city records analyzed by The Detroit News. Burned homes scar neighborhoods for years: Two-thirds of those that caught fire from 2010-13 are still standing, records show. "Nothing burns like Detroit," said Lt. Joe Crandall, a Detroit Fire Department arson investigator, referring to the city's high rate of arson. The Detroit News researched arson for more than three months and found that it remains a huge obstacle to renewal efforts following bankruptcy.
Few neighborhoods were untouched by arson and the entire city bears its costs. "People don't realize arson is a felony. Arson Chief Charles Simms said the city is making progress in its long struggle with arson. 'Arson is like a cancer' Detroit Population Down 25 Percent, Census Finds. Report: Detroit cops working with low numbers, funding.
DETROIT - The Detroit Police Department is seeing its lowest numbers since the 1920s, according to a report from The Detroit News.
Currently, the city, which spans 143 square miles, is covered by 1,590 officers. In the article, police official call the dwindling force a "crisis," and they're largely unsure of how to solve it. The Detroit News reports that the number of patrol officers has gone down by 37 percent in the past three years. Officers start at $14 an hour, but after taxes they see a little over half of that. Fewest cops are patrolling Detroit streets since 1920s. Detroit — There are fewer police officers patrolling the city than at any time since the 1920s, a manpower shortage that sometimes leaves precincts with only one squad car, posing what some say is a danger to cops and residents.
Detroit has lost nearly half its patrol officers since 2000; ranks have shrunk by 37 percent in the past three years, as officers retired or bolted for other police departments amid the city's bankruptcy and cuts to pay and benefits. Left behind are 1,590 officers — the lowest since Detroit beefed up its police force to battle Prohibition bootleggers.
"This is a crisis, and the dam is going to break," said Mark Diaz, president of the Detroit Police Officers Association. "It's a Catch-22: I know the city is broke, but we're not going to be able to build up a tax base of residents and businesses until we can provide a safe environment for them. " Police Chief James Craig acknowledges he doesn't have as many officers as he'd like. Staffing challenges Deployment shuffle. DETROIT CRIME FEEDS ON ITSELF AND YOUTH. DETROIT, April 28— In a city where officials say there are more guns than people, crime influences almost every decision.
It determines when people leave home, what routes they drive, where they walk. Crime is a conversational ice-breaker, like the weather or the Detroit Tigers. Shootings are so commonplace that they are the subject of local songs and school essay contests. On the average, a child was shot every day in 1986. But if residents were becoming anesthetized to such violence, a killing at a high school in the middle of Holy Week has once again awakened them. The city canceled classes Monday and today to hold assemblies on youth violence.
Just before spring break on April 16, a 14-year-old student firing a .357 magnum pistol chased a star football player through the halls of Murray-Wright High School, past the gymnasium and physics laboratory, as others looked on, helpless and in horror.