The city of Detroit is seeing a new spike in violence. Manpower is down, but murders and shootings are on the rise. Now there are reports that say police are looking for a solution that is causing controversy in New York City, called 'stop-and-frisk.'

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The crime rate has been down for quite a few years. Some would say because of stronger laws that keep the bad guys locked up longer. Some would say because children no longer eat lead paint.

Is Detroit a sign that the pendulum is swinging back to an increase in crime? Or is it just Detroit being Detroit?

I don't know if Detroit is the leading edge of a crime wave or not. Detroit has been Detroit for a very long time. I recall my cousin's husband telling me about visiting his brother in Detroit about 10 years ago. He was shocked at the condition of the city. He said it looked like it had been bombed by the U.S. Army 8th Air Force. Fires were going on all over the place, and tons of devastated bldgs. everywhere.

I read recently that if you call 911, the DPD's response rate is 58 minutes. With a response rate like that, I suspect the cops find a lot of dead 911 callers.

You can, of course, lower the crime rate by aggressive policing, by making lots of Terry stops. The cops will sometimes find weapons or other contraband, and the bad guys get paranoid, and start worrying about carrying a weapon, etc. This method, however, offends liberals who live in gated communities.

Another way to dramatically lower the crime rate without any fear of racial profiling, and is a method that has the full approval of liberals, is to do like Dallas PD was doing: just don't take seriously all the crime people actually report. Pick and choose which cases you'll report to the FBI. This is a very, very cheap and effective means of lowering the crime rate.

I am a dinosaur who believes that soft judges make hardened criminals. And juries have gotten soft in a lot of places, as well. I have noticed,as a result, in several jurisdictions, that the police actively discourage victims from pursuing charges, because "no one will do anything about it". Additionally, a lot of petty crimes (and some local customs deem DWI a petty crime) just get ignored. I have seen an increase in victims being told to pursue something civilly, or victims will do that on their own. There is also, I believe, less willingness for certain victims to report crimes, due to fear of retaliation, or because they don't want the hassle of having to be victimized a second time.

Detroit is a basket case. I don't know if all crimes are up, everywhere, but I do know that I admire NYPD for what they have done. And I admire jurisdictions that have the philosophy "don't do the crime if you can't do the time".

I would fail as a social worker..............