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Mike Duggan, Benny Napoleon Reveal Plans To Reduce Detroit Crime

DETROIT (WWJ) - Less than two months before Detroit's general election, mayoral candidates Mike Duggan and Benny Napoleon are revealing their plans to reduce crime in the city.

While Duggan and Napoleon no doubt have their differences, there is definitely one thing both candidates can agree on: Crime in Detroit needs to be reduced.

Duggan's Plan

Duggan said his crime reduction plan proposes to transform Detroit neighborhoods by creating a partnership between city leaders and the citizens.

"As I've said since I began this campaign, Detroit's turnaround must begin in its neighborhoods," Duggan said in a statement. "I look forward to continuing the healthy community discussion and debate that went into the development of this plan over the past six months."

Duggan's "Every Neighborhood has a Future" plan includes 10-points:

  1. Establish a single Department of Neighborhoods (DON)
  2. Base the DON in 7 Neighborhood District Offices to create true partnerships with Neighborhood Groups/Block Clubs
  3. Seize Abandoned Houses/Drug Houses through nuisance abatement program Mike Duggan started as Prosecutor
  4. Create positive incentives to move families from sparsely populated areas into stronger neighborhoods
  5. Rebuild neighboring business districts, beginning by seizing abandoned storefronts and moving in entrepreneurs
  6. Streamline demolition process and strategically target neighborhoods
  7. Crack down on illegal scrappers and their scrap yards
  8. Create much tougher code enforcement
  9. Require banks to participate in neighborhood redevelopment
  10.  Reform Detroit Land Bank so we can re-use vacant land

Click here to see Duggan's plan (.pdf format)

Napoleon's Plan

Napoleon said his crime reduction plan proposes to put an officer in every square mile of the city, but the 2,200 member force will have to increase the ranks to get the job done.

"There is no way that you can make this community a safe community with the number of police officers that you have," Napoleon said. "When folks try to convince you that we can, that's folks who really just don't understand deployment of police, doesn't understand the 140-something square miles of this community."

Napoleon said his comprehensive plan will reduce crime in the city by 50 percent at the end of his first term.

The "Transforming Every Neighborhood One Square Mile at a Time" plan includes 5-points:

  1. Community policing – a practice that has police partnering with residents, businesses, clergy and other community stakeholders to address the safety issues with proactive measures
  2. A data-driven approach to crime fighting – which utilizes data to track crime patterns in order to both resolve and deter incidents
  3. Crime prevention – a technique that teaches residents how to reduce the likelihood of becoming crime victims (e.g., neighborhood watch)
  4. Directed enforcement – uses a personnel and resource deployment policy to assign officers based on problem areas in order to increase enforcement of laws, further deterring crime
  5. Problem-oriented policing – that looks at the city and neighborhoods' challenges and implements strategies to address each specific crime-related issue

"Until we affirm Detroit as a safe city, nothing else matters," Napoleon said in a statement. "My crime reduction plan uses proven methods I adopted when I served as Chief of Police and reduced crime by 34-percent. We know that we can reduce crime by at least 50 percent, and we are committed to that task."

Click here to see Napoleon's plan (.pdf format)

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