Gov. Snyder Discusses Detroit's Financial Condition

Governor Rick Snyder released a YouTube video yesterday in which he discussed his thoughts on Detroit's financial problems. It's quite clear that he is not enthusiastic about the idea of appointing an emergency manager for Detroit.

I, personally, have an enormous amount of skepticism as to whether or not he'll be able to avoid it. He will almost certainly have to do in the weeks and months to come. However, it's actually nice to know that Governor Snyder isn't rushing into it.

What's Wrong With the Detroit Police Department?

John K. Bennett of DetroitUncovered.com posted a question on Facebook earlier today. I wanted to share his question, which I quote below, as well as my answer.

Please feel free to share your thoughts on Mr. Bennett's question by leaving a comment below.

I'm writing a new story for HuffPost Detroit and I need your input. What's wrong with the Detroit Police Department? How come we keep coming up short of late in solving high profile crimes? Do we have the proper direction? Is it leadership? Are we too soft? What can be done to make the police department more efficient and more effective? How do we get the most qualified people in charge? Are you satisfied with the current leadership of the police department?

In my opinion, the problem with the Detroit Police Department is that we have too many deputy chiefs and assistant chiefs (roughly double what any any city our size would have); we spend a ridiculous amount on administration (set a copy of the budgets from Atlanta, Columbus, Denver, Indianapolis, or Milwaukee Police Departments next to DPDs and you'll be blown away by the differences); and finally - because of those first 2 items - we short-change our front line operations.

Because we short-change our front line operations (e.g., not enough officers/detectives, not enough squad cars and equipment, minimal forensics, etc.), DPD isn't able to solve high-profile crimes or even most low-profile ones, for that matter.

As far as leadership goes, I approach the subject of leadership with a military background. In the military, there is a concept called Command Responsibility. Simply put, it means that if you are in command then you are responsible for anything - and I do mean anything - that goes wrong on your watch. Period.

In my life, I've seen a lot of things go wrong in cases where DPD was on the scene or should have been there. From the Malice Green beating to two 12 year boys who were killed in their own home on Mansfield a few blocks from me to the little girl who was killed during a SWAT raid, there have been instances where something went fundamentally wrong.

However, I have never once seen a command level officer within DPD stand up and publicly accept responsibility for whatever it was that went wrong. In the most fundamental terms, there simply is no leadership within DPD. There are just some guys in fancy uniforms with a big paycheck.

71-Year-Old Warrendale Resident Goes Missing

71-Year-Old Detroit Woman Goes Missing: MyFoxDETROIT.com

Margaret Theut, who has lived on Patton Street in Detroit's Warrendale neighborhood for decades, has been missing for almost a week and foul play is suspected. She was last seen leaving church services last weekend.

Anyone who has any information regarding the disappearance, or current location, of Ms. Theut is asked to contact the Detroit Police Department immediately.

Flooding at the Southfield Freeway

A portion of the Southfield Freeway flooded recently because of the tremendous amount of rain that Detroit has received over the past couple of days.

Lance Rosol of Pixel Perfect Photography managed to snap this photograph of what is now the Southfield River. It shows the Southfield Freeway, near Outer Drive, which is approximately 4 miles south of the Warrendale neighborhood.

Detroit Police Response Time: Now 113% Worse

Warren Evans

A little over a year ago, when Warren Evans was chief of police, the Detroit Police Department had a 24 minute response time for priority one calls. More importantly, their response time had improved by 29% from where it was a year earlier.

Now, however, things are different.

Warren Evans has been replaced as chief of police by Ralph Godbee. Chief Godbee is a fine individual, but he is someone who has spent almost his entire career in administrative posts within the department as opposed to being on the front lines fighting crime on a daily basis.

I tried not to hold Chief Godbee's lack of operational experience against him. However, it is becoming clear that he is simply not up to the task of leading one of the largest police departments in the nation.

Even though the department's budget is just as large, the Detroit Police Department's response time has now climbed to an average of almost 52 minutes, according to statistics released by the City of Detroit.

52 minutes.

Protecting and Serving - in 52 Minutes

The national average for police response time in major cities, by the way, is only 7 minutes. A review of police statistics shows that the Detroit Police Department currently has the largest budget of any police department in North America on a per resident basis as well as the worst response time of any urban police department in the industrialized world.

At 52 minutes, this means that the Detroit Police Department's response time is 113% worse than it was when Warren Evans was chief of police. That is a dramatic change for the worse in such a short time period.

To say that this is unacceptable does a disservice to the word "unacceptable." If the safety of Detroiters were truly a priority for Mayor Dave Bing, he would demand immediate changes within the leadership of the Detroit Police Department.

Warren Avenue Community Organization

Please join the Warren Avenue Community Organization on Thursday, November 17 6 - 7:30 p.m. at NFL YET Boy's and Girls Club (16500 Tireman). Please enter via the east entrance to the building.

This is a very important meeting. They will nominate and elect officers for the 2012 - 2014 term.

Obama Gas Station + Henry Ford's Grave

I was do some field research for a client today and took my camera along with me to show a few off the beaten path things about the Warrendale area of Detroit.

• Brennan Pools;
• Henry Ford's grave; and
• The Barack Obama gas station.

Detroit is always full of surprises. This collection of oddities from around the neighborhood is your Cool Warrendale Thing of the Week.