DETROIT, MI – Mayor Mary Sheffield recently joined with a coalition of city and community leaders to unveil a new six-point community safety plan to address recent trends and to install preventive safety measures to foster further improved public safety ahead of this year’s warm weather months. The plan incorporates the Detroit Police Department, the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood and Community Safety and other city departments, community mental health partners and direct input from neighborhood block clubs and Detroit’s youth.
“I’ve said many times that we cannot arrest our way to a safe city, it is going to take a broad range of strategies that address not only criminal behavior but the circumstances that create the opportunity for it to occur,” Mayor Sheffield said. “This plan has been built around the areas where we see the greatest opportunity for prevention of significant safety issues as we head into the warm weather months.”
The plan, which will be expanded over the next two months to layer in additional strategies, includes the following approaches:
- Safe Storage and Gun Safety Education and Resource Campaign
- New Neighborhood Safety Action Teams to identify and address block-level crime issues
- After-Hours Venue Engagement Strategy to address problem locations
- DPD Safe Summer Strategy focusing on block party safety/crowd control, parks and recreation centers, curfew compliance and drag racing/drifting
- Conflict Resolution and Restorative Practices Task Force
- Youth Engagement Strategy
“Over the past several years, violent crime in Detroit has reached 60-year lows, although the onset of warmer temperatures often brings with it a rise in incidents,” said Chief Todd Bettison. “Mayor Sheffield has been adamant that to continue the city’s trend of lower levels of crime, the city must continue strategies that have proven successful and introduce new preventive strategies.”
Mayor Mary Sheffield surrounded by administration and community partners. Photos: Sydney Bowden
Here is a breakdown of Sheffield’s 6-poing plan:
Gun Safety and Storage Campaign. An urgent piece of the Mayor’s community safety initiative is a holistic strategy to encourage personal gun safety and storage. The campaign will include a robust social media campaign and direct community engagement at sites across the city. The City has secured nearly 2,000 gun locks that it will distribute for free to households that have guns they wish to secure to keep their family safe. Half of the gun locks are being provided by the Detroit Public Safety Foundation thanks to a grant from Henry Ford Project Child Safety. The administration also will be doing extensive community engagement with families and youth of all ages through the Hope Starts Here, Detroit Parent Network, DPSCD and Charter schools, Grow Detroit’s Young Talent, SER Metro and others. Sheffield also shared a powerful video (add link) on child gun safety that will be shared across the city’s social media platforms.
“Too often our community has had to mourn the loss of an innocent child whose natural curiosity cost them their life when they encountered an unsecured weapon,” said Mayor Sheffield. “A simple gun lock and family education are the easiest way to prevent another unnecessary tragedy.”
Neighborhood Safety Action Teams. This strategy focuses resources where crime has clustered — including troubled locations that have become magnets for blight and unwanted activity. City leaders from multiple departments will conduct weekly walks in targeted areas to assess conditions on the ground, then direct increased patrols, improve lighting, and address repairs and other environmental issues where they are needed most. This is not top-down policing. This is community driven. Residents can recommend high-risk locations directly — because neighbors are partners and co-owners of public safety on their blocks. Everyone has a role to play. And when neighbors are engaged and city resources are responsive, crime does not get a foothold.
After Hours Venue Engagement and Enforcement. DPD and BSEED will identify after hours locations that have the highest rate of police runs, code violations and community complaints and city officials will work with the establishments to develop plans to improve security and lighting at the locations. DPD and BSEED also will increase enforcement at establishments with the most resident complaints police runs. If issues continue to go unaddressed the city will, if necessary, close an establishment.
DPD Safe Summer Strategy. The Detroit Police Department will activate several successful strategies that have worked in recent years, including drag racing & drifting enforcement, block party compliance and crowd control at large community gatherings and curfew enforcement. DPD also will pay special attention to the city’s most active parks and recreation centers to have a more visible presence to deter any potential issues. As part of its curfew enforcement, DPD will detain juveniles out after curfew and issue Parental Responsibility tickets of $250 for the first offense and $500 for subsequent offenses.
“I am confident that the Mayor’s Summer Safety Plan will continue driving crime down across our city,” said Detroit Police Chief, Todd A. Bettison. “These strategies—focused on youth engagement, Neighborhood Safety Action Teams, after-hour venues and conflict resolution—give our public safety professionals more tools and resources than ever before. But most importantly, it is a proven fact that when law enforcement and the community work together, it creates a powerful partnership—and that is how we keep Detroit safe.”
Conflict Resolution & Restorative Practices Task Force. The Mayor’s Office has established a new task force to develop and implement new strategies that will be rolled out later this summer. Members of the task force include city department heads, CVI groups and behavioral health professionals to address conflict in our neighborhoods before they escalate.
“Individuals closes to the problem are close to the solutions.” Teferi Brent, Director of Office of Neighborhood and Community Safety said. “It is incumbent upon us to equip our residents with the tools to resolves conflicts on their own without the involvement of law enforcement to intervene,”
Youth-centered activations. Mayor Sheffield recently met with a group of high school students who had organized a large gathering of teens downtown the weekend before. Out of that conversation an agreement was reached between the city and the youth to create expanded opportunities for teens to enjoy their city at large-scale activations designed just for them. The Mayor is working on a plan for a youth-centered event at Hart Plaza that will include two DJs, basketball courts, gaming trucks and more. The event will run from 5-9 PM and will be free and open to all youth.
The Mayor previously announced plans for “Occupy the Summer,” which will include activities and activations such as expanded Recreation Center hours until 11 PM during the summer, the return of “Midnight Basketball” for young adults and other activities. Full details of Occupy the Summer will be announced in May.
