Tragedy of Detroit: Your town could be next

Life today in Destroit. This dead body was found a month after the person died. Hard to believe this is going on in an American city.

Submitted by Mark Nichols
Editor, American Police Beat

Do you know what an Abandonment Zone is? If not, you might want to start paying attention to what’s happening in Detroit.

Corruption and mismanagement of every stripe have put Detroit so deep in the hole that they might not make it out. Residents wait an hour for police, fire and EMTs to respond to emergencies – and that’s if they can find a working vehicle in which to respond.
Tens of thousands of retired people who worked for the city will now see their pensions vanish into thin air to please the Gods of the free market.

In modern American life where everything gets reduced to Democrat vs. Republican, Conservative vs. Liberal, most people are more interested in playing the blame game rather than thinking about solutions. And that’s a big mistake.

Detroit and the misery, pain and fear gripping the city is not an isolated event. And it’s not just an accident. In fact, many people consider Detroit to be a huge success story. But how could that be? How could someone think of Detroit as a success?

Well the folks at the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and the Chamber of Commerce are pleased as punch about what’s happening. The greedy public servants won’t get their inflated pensions and benefits promised under contractual agreement simply due to a ruling by a federal judge. And they get to sell all the parks, buildings, priceless paintings in the Detroit Art Museum and anything else with the word “public” attached to it, to the highest bidder.

For the people who would like to ban unions and privatize public safety Detroit is indeed an exciting glimpse into the future. It’s a future in which residents live in fear because they’re inhabitants of a lawless urban hellscape. That presents great market opportunities for the private sector.

For some folks the tale of Detroit is just too depressing to spend too much time on. But if you’re a cop in a city or county with budget issues you might want to pay close attention to the Motor City.

There’s a local reporter named Charlie LeDuff who’s been there from the jump and knows all the details. Check out his hysterically funny Youtube videos. He’s also written a great book on the subject that’s near and dear to his heart as a hometown boy. The book is called, “Detroit: an American Autopsy.”

Detroit could be the America of the future. If we don’t do something, come together in some way or other to help this city, we could all go down.

Mark Nichols is the editor of American Police Beat, a national law enforcement publication.