Detroit Police to reshape gang squad

[Lucinda F. Boyd]

The Police Department’s gang squad, which has come under fire for its treatment of Detroit residents, is being reduced

The Gang Enforcement Unit from 60 to 20 officers and now will require them to wear uniforms, DPD spokesman John Roach said today.

“Thanks to expanded coordination with our federal partners to address gang issues in Detroit, a stand-alone unit of that size within DPD is no longer necessary at this time,” Roach said. “What is more important to the average citizen is having enough officers on the patrol to respond to their 911 calls, which is what many of these officers now will be doing. Data driven adjustments like this are not uncommon within the Detroit Police Department.”

Scott applauded the decision, but added that it “unfortunately [comes] not before many individual citizens who were depending on the police to protect them have become victims of this unit which had spiraled out of control and become almost a gang itself. We're glad to see that the leadership of the department has begun to re-evaluate this unit at a crucial time when we see an erosion in police-community trust.

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