Flint, MI— Flint officials announced their plans to address pertinent issues in the community with their “Safe Summer” initiative during a March 13, 2024, press conference. These plans include crime, blight, increasing traffic stops, speed humps, and implementing youth summer employment programs.
Flint Mayor Sheldon Neeley began by saying overall crime in Flint is down 17% and homicide is down by 40%.
But according to Flint crime statistics, as of March 11, property crimes are up by over 5%.
There have been a total of 374 property crimes this year in Flint, compared to 356 in 2023.
Neeley said blight and illegal dumping can be additional hot spots for crime which is why Flint will no longer rely on a contractor to demolish burned out structures and foundations. Instead, the city will be purchasing equipment to “reduce the level of harm” in these locations.
“We’re cautioning those individuals who may own buildings or structures and leave them there, blighting our community, providing unsafe opportunities for those with nefarious intentions to be able to do crime in our community,” Neeley stated. “We will be giving tickets and citations to those entities.”
Flint will be placing fencing around city-owned structures in disrepair and requiring all other businesses to do the same to deter crime.
City Services Manager Arnold Brown said Flint is seeing progress through its current blight efforts.
Flint has a contractor who is working on digging out existing basement structures. Brown said the city has demolished two structures within the last week.
Eight more locations are being reviewed for possible demolition.
“Anyone that has trash in their yard … we’re going to go out and ticket them, we’re coming,” Brown explained. “And any structures that are open, not boarded up, call us and we’ll see what we can do as far as getting them secured.”
Flint Police Department Sgt. Tyrone Booth said another way to address safety issues is through traffic operations.
In 2023, Booth said Flint conducted 6,849 traffic stops which led to more than 7,000 tickets. This number isn’t reflective of non-hazardous violations or parking violations. Traffic operations focus on violations such as speeding and those who are driving without proper Michigan registration and license plates.
He believes these violations can be connected to individuals who could be involved in greater crimes occurring throughout Flint.
In 2023, Flint impounded 1,983 vehicles. This year, 360 vehicles have been impounded.
For nonhazardous violations and parking, Booth said the city issued 1,345 tickets in 2023. In 2024, Flint has conducted more than 1,000 traffic stops.
“We want to make sure that drivers feel comfortable driving, that elderly individuals feel safe and we want to make sure that the neighborhoods are safe for kids to play in,” Booth said. “So we’re going to continue to focus on our traffic initiatives.”
Flint is also working to keeping kids off the street by rolling out initiatives for recreation and summer employment opportunities.
The city will be looking for five local organizations to hire small groups of children for a four-week period. These organizations have not been identified yet, but the city will be rolling out more information on the youth summer employment initiative shortly.
Neeley said Flint has negotiated revenue streams to help fund these initiatives, but council will still have to approve each process.