DETROIT (WXYZ) — A town hall meeting is happening in Detroit Thursday evening at the Detroit Edison Public School Academy. Police Chief James White called the meeting and invited a number of community leaders to sit on the panel.
It's scheduled take place from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Topics on the agenda include crime, gun safety, mental health, the judicial process, crisis intervention resources and technology that aids crime prevention.
"People are worried about budget. I’m worried about lives," Pastor Maurice "Mo" Hardwick told 7 Action News before the meeting.
He's on the panel.
“Tonight, we’re going to discuss and strategize and how to come in here and stop the murder. People are tired of saying 'rest up'. They tired of these caskets being, paying ($4,000) or $5,000 and doing GoFundMes. We're tired of that. We deserve to live to be to our old age.”
Hardwick said the disturbing trend of woman and children being gunned in the city is near and dear to his heart.
Since the beginning of this year, 65 children have been shot in the city and 12 have died. That's according to Detroit police.
Hardwick agrees with the usage and expansion of Shotspotter technology. It alerts police to gunfire and gives them a location. Some residents have been vocal against it.
He questioned, "Have you lost somebody's who's been laying there in a pile of blood with nobody calling 911 because the gunshots are so common until no one's even called 911 anymore? Have you laid there in your own blood hoping for help and no help has come? We need Shotspotter."
Corea Nimmons works in the city.
“I don’t feel 100% safe when I come to the city, but I think that maybe since when I was younger, it’s gotten a lot better," she said.
Nimmons says she did notice an uptick in crime after pandemic restrictions lifted. In addition to addressing that, she suggests greater efforts be made to improve police-community relations.
"The police could be more friendly with the community. They could develop more of a relationship with the community. So I personally, I work for the Detroit Police Athletic League, and we focus on building a relationship with the community with our children," she explained.
