Detroit Mayor Sheffield unveil community safety plan amid teen takeover trend

Detroit mayor, police chief unveil new community safety plan

Downtown Detroit is the heart of where the teen takeovers continually happen, disturbing visitors and businesses. Mayor Sheffield and others say the kids aren’t the problem—the lack of options is.

DETROIT (FOX 2) - Teen takeovers are causing chaos in cities across the country, including Detroit. But Mayor Mary Sheffield unveiled a plan to tackle the problem head-on, alongside the kids.

Big picture view:

Downtown Detroit is the heart of where the teen takeovers continually happen, disturbing visitors and businesses. Mayor Sheffield and others say the kids aren’t the problem—the lack of options is.

"As we head into the summer months, and as we know, the temperature will be breaking, we can expect warmer weather. This administration is being intentional about staying ahead with a strategy that is rooted in prevention, intervention, and enforcement."

"What you’re seeing now is a lot of help for the Detroit Police Department from all these other departments, with a holistic approach, because former Chief White has always said, ‘We cannot police our way out of this,’" said Chief Todd Bettison.

Videos are circulating on social media showing dozens and dozens of teens in downtown Detroit late at night. Some hanging out, others causing a disturbance, police say. 

Some business owners told FOX 2 off camera they’re fed up.

What's next:

So Mayor Sheffield, Police Chief Todd Bettison, and other officials say they’ve got a solution. Today they introduced the new "6-Point Community Safety Plan."

It includes family gun safety, neighborhood safety, a conflict resolution team, youth engagement, and mental health services. Specifically, they’re looking to give away gun locks and get the word out about a crisis text line.

DPD continues to crack down on block parties and drag racing. Another part of the plan: partnering with businesses as after-hours venues.

Local perspective:

Pizza Cat on Jefferson will be one of them.

"Every business down here has definitely suffered some kind of loss of business," said managing partner of Pizza Cat, Bobby Christian. "But I’ve actually been talking directly with the mayor’s office about solutions. So what we’re doing here at Pizza Cat is we’re going to be a teen hub, where all the children can come down here before the curfew and relax, relate, release, and just have some fun. We’ll be having chess, checkers, jumbo Jenga, jumbo Tetris. So we’re doing any and everything, as well as the mayor’s office is working with us directly to do anything and everything to make sure that the community is safe."

Bobby Christian of Pizza Cat says he works with young people and is glad to be a part of the solution.