DETROIT – Interim police chief James White revealed his plan to take back the streets earlier this week after several weekends in a row of street fighting, drag racing and dangerous car stunts.
Read: ‘Detroit party city, no more’ -- Police unveil plan to curb street racing, violence
“Just saying hello to our community. Saying Hi and introducing myself. A lot of people don’t know me,” said Interim Police Chief James White.
White spent his Saturday afternoon at Rouge Park talking to the people who live in the area.
“It’s not us and them. It’s we,” said White.
That’s a motto former Police Chief James Craig practiced and Chief White said he plans on continuing that.
“I worked for Chief Craig for eight years so that blue print is there, absolutely community. We are the community in which we served,” said Chief White.
But White said it’s all about safety and fighting crime in parts of the city, that need that special attention.
He introduced his five point plan addressing more police presence and crowd control around the city, especially in the Downtown and Greektown areas. That was because of multiple fights in Greektown, multiple weekends in a row, but White said he’s focused on the entire city.
“Well, it’s not a plan about Downtown and Greektown. It’s a crowd management plan for the whole city. This is apart of that Crowd Management Plan, Rouge Park,” said White.
Rio Grand, with community organization Force Detroit, agrees with bridging the gap between the community and police.
“I don’t see no negativity in it for the community, and for the police chief to get to know the community and to be out here with the community,” Grand said.
DeJuan Zoe, also with Force Detroit, said the people of Detroit have to do their part as well.
“It’s important for individuals from the community and in the community, to serve the community. It’s important for a person to see value and taking care of the community. Value and caring for the youth, caring for the women.”
More: Detroit Crime News