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Detroit
Pairs
Youth
Programming
With
Enforcement
as
Violence
Touches
Children
Again
Derick
Adams -
Crime/Law
Tell Us
Detroit
News
Bureau
DETROIT
-
Detroit
officials
and
community
violence
intervention
groups
are
weighing
a summer
of sharp
declines
in youth
violence
against
a new
run of
shootings
this
week
involving
children.
Detroit
recorded
42
homicides
this
summer,
down 25%
from the
same
period
last
year,
and
juvenile
homicide
victims
fell
from
nine to
one,
according
to
police
data
released
Monday.
Mayor
Mary
Sheffield
and
Police
Chief
Todd
Bettison
spoke at
an Oct.
5 press
conference
at the
Adams
Butzel
Recreation
Center.
They
credited
a mix of
policing,
violence
intervention
and
youth
programming,
including
the
city’s
$1.5
million
Occupy
the
Summer
initiative.
The
numbers
were not
uniformly
good.
Sexual
assaults
rose
5.8%
over the
summer,
though
Bettison
said the
year-to-date
total is
still
down.
The
gains
were
tested
within
days. On
Monday
evening,
a
29-year-old
woman
and her
7-year-old
daughter
were
shot on
the east
side.
Police
said the
father
of one
child
involved
in an
earlier
fight
confronted
the
woman at
her
apartment.
Teferi
Brent, a
senior
official
in the
mayor’s
Office
of
Neighborhood
and
Community
Safety,
urged
the
suspect
to
surrender.
A day
later, a
16-year-old
girl was
killed
in a
drive-by
shooting
on the
east
side.
Bettison
said
“Enough
is
enough.”
The
summer
strategy
grew out
of a
spring
of “teen
takeovers”
downtown.
After
one
marred
by
vandalism
and
brawls,
Sheffield
and
Bettison
met with
the
16-year-old
organizers
and
promised
more
constructive
activities
for
young
people.
The city
later
announced
a
six-point
community
safety
plan
involving
police,
the
Office
of
Neighborhood
and
Community
Safety,
community
mental
health
partners,
block
clubs
and
youth.
It
covers
gun
safety
and
storage,
neighborhood
safety
action
teams,
after-hours
club
enforcement,
conflict
resolution
and
youth
engagement.
Half of
the gun
locks
were
funded
by the
Detroit
Public
Safety
Foundation
through
a grant
from
Henry
Ford
Project
Child
Safety.
Occupy
the
Summer
was the
youth
centerpiece.
It ended
Aug. 14
at a
west
side
Boys and
Girls
Club
after
about
two
months
of
weekly
events,
and more
than
15,000
young
people
took
part.
Bettison
said
there
had been
no teen
takeover
since
the
program
began.
Sheffield
said the
city
will
continue
it next
year
with at
least
the same
funding
and look
for ways
to reach
more
young
people.
She also
said
more
youth
activities
will be
offered
outside
the
summer
months.
Prevention
came
alongside
tougher
enforcement.
On a May
weekend,
police
detained
109
teens
downtown
and at
Palmer
Park,
all but
two for
curfew
violations,
and
parents
were
ticketed
when
they
picked
up their
children.
Council
later
approved
an
earlier
curfew
for the
Ford
Fireworks.
Police
detained
180
teens
that
night
and
cited
their
parents.
Councilmember
Denzel
McCampbell
asked
who
would be
pushed
out by
an
earlier
curfew,
including
older
teens
who work
evenings.
The
mayor’s
approach
has also
drawn
criticism
from the
Board of
Police
Commissioners.
Commissioner
Darious
Morris
called
her
comments
about
the teen
organizers
“an
insult,”
while
Commissioner
Darryl
Woods
called
her
approach
“genius.”
Intervention
groups
say they
are the
ones
reaching
the
young
people
involved.
On
Tigers
Opening
Day, the
group
Ceasefire
worked
downtown,
including
at
Campus
Martius
Park, to
build
trust
with
teens
and head
off
confrontations.
After a
14-year-old
was shot
downtown
in May,
Bettison
said an
intervention
worker
in the
area
began
first
aid.
FORCE
Detroit,
which
works to
prevent
retaliatory
violence
after
shootings,
has
launched
a
monthly
“Caravan
of Love”
in the
7th
District.
Organizers
go door
to door
connecting
residents
with
workforce,
housing
and
youth
programs
and
voter
registration,
one
Friday a
month
through
Election
Day.
FORCE
director
Dujuan
“Zoe”
Kennedy
has said
a
comprehensive
strategy
is
needed
when
young
people
flood
downtown.
Officials
say
these
groups
are part
of the
city’s
strategy.
Brent
said
they
focus on
prevention
before
violence
occurs.
Sheffield
has
stressed
that
more
work
remains.
This
week’s
shootings,
which
stemmed
from a
dispute
among
young
children
and from
a
drive-by
that
killed a
teenager,
show
where
the gaps
are.
Both
happened
outside
the
summer
window,
and the
city’s
expanded
programming
is still
tied
largely
to warm
months.
This
Tell Us
USA News
Network
report
is
produced
in part
by Ai
and can
make
mistakes.
Please
contact
and let
us know
of any
errors
you may
find.
info@tellususa.com
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