In an attempt to deal with the twin problems of budgetary and rising crime, Detroit city officials have turned to ordinary citizens to help bolster its battered police force, Bloomberg reports.
Unarmed volunteers are given radios and matching t-shirts, and are paired with officers to patrol the city’s crime-ridden neighborhoods. The program currently fields 25 patrols, and hopes to add three additional patrols each year.
The city’s police force has lost a quarter of its officers since 2009, and the population has declined just as much since 2000. The homicide rate continues to rise in the meantime.
Kevyn Orr, the emergency manager appointed by the governor to manage the city’s government, has made public safety a priority as he attempts to reinvigorate a city struggling with massive deficits and the threat of bankruptcy.
“Nobody’s going to move back to Detroit as long as people don’t have a sense of security,” said volunteer Lorenzo Blount during his morning rounds in the west-side Grandmont area. “That’s what we’re trying to add in our neighborhood in our little way.”
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