Letter on crime sent to Detroit Free Press, March 5, 2012

Dear Editor:

There certainly are many dedicated, hardworking, ethical and professional police officers in the ranks of the Detroit Police Department. I've met many of them. The Detroit Police Department as a whole, however, has shown that it is incapable of effectively combating the embarrassingly and consistently high crime rate, including murder. As Stephen Henderson wrote in his March 4, 2012 editorial, "Violence, fear, distrust - and leadership too weak to break the cycle," "decisive and targeted" policing in Baltimore has resulted in its lowest murder total in 30 years. In Los Angeles, homicides have declined from approximately 1,000 annually twenty years ago to 300 today, less than Detroit. And Los Angeles has five times as many people, with fewer officers per capita. Quick police response to 911 calls is only a small part of the solution. It's better on many levels to stop crime before the call to 911, before the shooting, before the mugging. 

Stopping major crimes before they occur requires patrol officer-initiated investigations, including aggressive traffic enforcement. After all, most criminals drive to and from their crimes, often in stolen, unregistered, or uninsured vehicles. The best way to increase the visibility of the police - and increase the fear of getting caught - is through traffic enforcement.  The "Broken Windows" theory of neighborhood decline emphasizes that by enforcing the laws on the so-called minor crimes, big effects follow. The old ways of doing business haven't worked for the Detroit Police Department in many years. We demand better.  

Thomas E. Page