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Police Chief Urges Detroiters To Form Block Clubs, Patrols

DETROIT (WWJ) - Detroit Police Chief James Craig wants residents to take back their neighborhoods with a new program being unveiled this weekend.

Detroit's top cop  tells WWJ's Citybeat Reporter Vickie Thomas that he is issuing the call to citizens to take back their streets by organizing block clubs and citizen patrols.

"I'm on a mission,  we are on a mission, not just me this, team is on a mission we are going to get it done ... I love what Nike says about just do it - we are going to just do it," said Craig.

"We've got to protect our community and we can not expose them to unnecessary harm," said Craig. "If we do that - who would want to report crime? I wouldn't."

Belinda Lee, of Northwest Detroit, liked the ideas she heard from the chief.

"The neighborhood patrols, getting the police back out on the streets, the precincts .... I guess bringing back the precincts."

Cortez Brown is vice president of Detroit 300 - one of the groups involved   "I think we've made a significant difference in that fact that the public  generally respects what we do - there is more of us good guys than there are bad guys so we've got a lot of support for them."

The call to action gets underway at 10 a.m. Saturday at Triumph Church on East Grand Blvd.

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