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The Detroit Police Officers Association is warning citizens and out-of-towners that they enter Detroit at their own risk, saying that the "grossly understaffed" and overworked police force cannot adequately protect the public in the increasingly violent city.
“Detroit is America’s most violent city, its homicide rate is the highest in the country and yet the Detroit Police Department is grossly understaffed,” DPOA Attorney Donato Iorio told WWJ over the weekend. “The DPOA believes that there is a war in Detroit, but there should be a war on crime, not a war on its officers.”
The most dangerous cities in America
An analysis of the FBI's Uniform Crime Report data from 24/7 Wall St. indicates that Detroit actually has the second-highest violent crime rate in the country, behind Flint, Mich. Homicide increased by 11 percent in 2011, while robbery and aggravated assault are fourth- and second-highest in the country, respectively, according to the report.
This summer, city leaders cut the police department's 2012-13 budget by $75 million, to about $340 million, in an attempt to reduce the city's deficits, the Detroit Free Press reported. That forced the department to draw up a budget that will result in the loss of 380 positions through attrition and early retirement.
Iorio told WWJ hundreds of officers have left the department since the start of summer.
"Officers are leaving simply because they can’t afford to stay in Detroit and work 12-hour shifts for what they are getting paid," Iorio told WWJ. "These police officers are beyond demoralized. ... They can no longer afford to stay on the department and protect the public,” he said.
According to the DPOA's manifesto, Detroit police are the lowest paid of any big city and have to work in what Iorio describes as "deplorable, dangerous and war-like conditions." About a month ago, a judge refused to block the pay cuts for the officers.
"The state treasurer has threatened Detroit Police Officers with another 10% wage cut for going to court to protect their rights," the DPOA manifesto reads.
“The explosion in violent crime, the incredible spike in the number of homicides and for officers trying to work 12 hours in such deplorable, dangerous and war like conditions is simple untenable,” Iorio told WWJ.
Renee Monforton of the Detroit Metro Convention and Visitors Bureau told NBC News that it’s unfortunate that the police union is using such tactics to move its agenda forward.
“It’s offering an unfair portrayal of a city that’s made a lot of strides in the past couple of years,” she said, noting that companies such as Quicken Loans have recently moved their headquarters and offices to downtown Detroit.
Getting people to come to Detroit can be a challenge, she said, but once visitors experience the city they are likely to return.
“People who come here are so pleasantly surprised that we see a lot of repeat visitations,” Monforton said.
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The people of Detroit need to take a stand and say "No more cuts to law enforcement." Perhaps we need a new Mayor and more faith-filled City Councilmen who have real vision for Detroit. Hey, isn't this where there is a large supply of Muslim immigrants trying to create unrest and force sharia law to be adopted? I could be wrong on this. These officers need to be supported on every level. If you don't have public safety, basically you don't have a decent place to live. I know these are days of difficult financial choices but public safety is an area you can't compromise on.
So the police can no longer "protect" the public? Or they can no longer hassle drug users for gtting high? Because that is pretty much all cops do now adays, and write tickets. Wow, I feel safer
QUICK !!! Send them the Community Organizer from Chicago bye way of Washington D.C. , because it is the RIGHT THING TO DO !!!
Shhoot some bad guys, let them lay around for a while, or even hang them high, so other bag guys, catch on that, times are changing, Obama and his anti gun peoples plan is failing, and there is a new sheriff, in town.
Now you know, how our soilders, feel in the middleast war, every one could be a bad guy, and you don't know, until they fire at you. It's their back yard, you can't win, the old fashion normal way.
Jackass
first of all we need to get rid of the activists that believe criminals have rights . second anyone who murders, rapes attempted murder loses their rights has one trial then executed 1 day after trial. stop this bs wasting tax payer money ....
And I hope you are one of the people that get wrongfully or wrightfully accused of one of these crimes and has the same fate you wish on others happen to you or someone you love.
Every adult male has the morale responsibility to defend his family and property. Senior citizens and females should also be protected as well as the children. American citizens can not protect themselves against the gangs and drug dealers because the bad guys are the ones with the guns. Ther supreme court says you have a right to have one in your home for protection. Travelers should not have to worry how close a policeman is to feel safe. Stand up America. Tell Detroit, Chicago and yes there big sister New York City that you have a right to defend yourself and your loved ones. Do not be slaughtered by the gangs and dope dealers. Take back your streets one block at a time and kick the crooked cops and dope dealing gangs to the curb. Or show your tail and move out.
More police does not translate to a better neighborhood. Look at all the affluent neighborhoods, they have less police per capita. If the police would focus on crime instead of revenue generating activites maybe crime would actually decrease.
More proof liberal, progressiveness/socialism does not work. ALL the cities that have the most crime and violence are Democratic party experiments that have failed in each and every way. What was referred to earlier about starting at the beginning and keeping god in the classrooms was over simplified and you libs act as if he is wrong for saying it. It's taken 60 years of Marxist/Socialist Progressiveness to create this mess and you are going to have to tear it down and begin over to fix it. It means a lot of hard work, something libs do not, never will understand. They think spending more and taking away from those who earned their dollars is the answer to this crap. It isn't. Time to clean house of the liberal cancer.
Your really stupid, how is this a politics issue? Like no crime occurs in right wing places, I guess it doesn't if you condone the activity and look the other way when it's your people doing it. Wake up, and stop pointing political fingers when you obviously do not know what your talking about.
You can track most crime to the left's liberals poor babies who go out and commit them. It is as I tell people, they don't have anything worth taking in their neighborhoods, they have cars and they go where the cash is. Anonymous, you need to wake up to facts and look where crime originates, who commits it and why. Facts are, the leading cause of death for a black male under 35 is another black male. I wonder why? Gee who was going out and beating white people to death because of Martin and Zimmerman? Who is killing who along the border? Why are all the home invasions minorities? Hummmm. Who keeps giving them entitlements paid for by working class people? Who has tried their Communist/Socialist/Progressive experiment and failed? Why did the Communist Party USA join with the Democrats in the 1970's saying they did so because Communist was a bad word and Progressive was better and the Democrats adopted their platform plank for plank? You're damn right is is political and tell me, which right wing places are YOU talking about? Because Detroit, along with LA, Washington D.C., Chicago, NYC, just to name a few are all liberal hotbeds of crime and suffering. Oh well, it seems to me they deserve each other don't they! They've got their liberal paradise. What pisses me off is they want to do it to the rest of the nation. I'm afraid not. We won't let that happen.
Gee Darrell, you sound like a really mean hateful person. The only problem with that is that no one can actually argue with a single thing you stated. Everything was correct. The problem is people don't WANT to believe it. It messes up their whole "feel good diversity" thing.
Only The Batman can save the city now!!!!!
Ah Detroit, America's own Rwanda.
This is NOT a money problem. Throwing hundreds of millions of dollars at the Police department will not fix this. This is a problem with the residents of Detroit. There are dozens of similarly sized cities where the residents obey the laws, expect others to obey the laws, and support the police when they crack down on people who don't obey the laws. That is NOT true in Detroit, and all the money in the world will not help until their views on crime and law enforcement change. I know that is a pollitically incorrect view, but it is 100% true. I wouldn't go there, and neither would most reasonable and law abiding citizens. Sorry Detroit.....I don't see a bright future for you.
Place is a sh*thole and they just need to flush it!
They need someone like Wyatt Earp to go kick some azz there....
Wake up people....It's THE BLACKS! Give them a city and see what happens...they're animals. The same thing would happen in any city you let them govern. It's a ghetto culture DNA....I feel bad for the ones that managed to do something worthwhile for themselves. Most of them should be in a jungle.
It appears as though you may have something here but then again...........
Sounds like another racist dbag, I wonder if you lump together all whites for the failings of a few. I doubt it
Show me a city full of whites, latinos, asians, or any other race that looks like Detroit - the city completely run by blacks.
I lived it all in Detroit.....in the city of Detroit, not some suburb....can you say that?
Haiti?
Greedy union bastards that is all they are. There is no money in Detroit because of union greed and corruption by the union members and the heads of those same unions. Fire them all and hire someone that cares about their city.
This will certainly NOT win any points for the Police Department with us citizens of Detroit. What a bunch of
numb-nuts.
They just need a great community organizer to set everything back in order just like Chicago.
This is the reason for the second amendment. You are not guaranteed protection, just the right to protect yourself. And just wait until the police abandon the citizens in some areas, just like the LA police did during the race riots. Remind the gun-controlling libtards next time they say you don't need guns because the police will protect you. When seconds count the police are only minutes away, unless you are in Detroit and then they are even further behind....
Maybe a "Escape From New York" wall around the city should be implimented in Detroit.
Yet we are funding wars overseas in the name of freedom and democracy, but our own Government can't keep it's own people safe, on their own streets, within their own national borders. If we can't walk the streets safely and can't keep our doors unlocked at night and can't move around freely without risking our safety, from neighborhood to neighborhood then we have no freedom. I would say it's a clear example of a Government that has failed at all levels. First of all, we shouldn't need to police ourselves so much. Secondly, if we can't police ourselves successfully, then how could we possible be qualified to police the rest of the world.
Agree on all the wars overseas, but WE need to police ourselves, not the federal govt. It's the stupid govt. intervention that created this mess.
Anybody notice that this is starting to sound like an early draft of Robocop? Detroit was pretty much much a combat zone starting back in the late 70's/early 80's. All we need now is a private military contractor to offer to take over the policing...Omni Consumer Products!
There is some "trigger happy" cops in good ol Wichita Kansas that could get on a first class plane(courtesy of the "spending happy" city council) and do what they do best! SHOOT, SHOOT and SHOOT. Believe me...they will get the job done. They will shot to kill....oh but wait, I can't guarantee there won't be some injured or killed who were just in the wrong place at the wrong time:(
Put up a wall, cut the utilities and declare Detroit a free-fire zone. Wait through two winters and then go in with bulldozers. This is the final chapter in a failing city. Stay-tuned as more and more cities become pest holes.
Darn you took my idea!
Best idea I heard all day.
I've been saying that for years, give the decent people a way out, then you could even ship in all the gangs from other cities and say "have at it" no penalties, settle your crap with no innocent people getting hurt.
Detroit is a @!$%#hole!!!!!... and these mindless buffoons forcing the issue that kick and claw at how great the @!$%#hole called Detroit is are stupid and deserve to be stuck and rotting there.Yes America has several third world cities and detroit is but one of them.Thanks alot you useless democrats,liberals for your contribution to AMERICAN society.
I would like to post, but Sarah has posted so many times, there's no more room... *sigh* :(