Resident pleads to Pontiac city leaders on community safety: "The violence needs to stop"
A concerned resident in Metro Detroit is pushing for Pontiac city officials to take action against violence in the city, specifically involving its youth.
"This violence needs to stop. I have a great deal of worry about my family living in Pontiac," said Janice Quinn.
Pontiac has always been a city that Quinn has called home, but recently, she says violence has gotten out of control.
"The young man that was shot on Auburn (Street) in the car. That was my best friend's grandson. Then you had the big major fight with girls at Hollywood market, teenagers. You had the killing at M1 Course. My mother is 86 years old. I don't want my mother having to leave the living room at a certain time in the evening to go to the back of the house because a stray bullet may come through the front door," Quinn said.
Quinn says these incidents have one thing in common: young people. While she says parents need to be held accountable, she doesn't feel city leaders are doing enough to prevent these acts of violence from happening in the first place.
"I haven't heard a peep out of the mayor and the council. There's been a curfew in Pontiac for over 20 years. They used to enforce it, and now they don't. Detroit, the minute something happened, they enforced their curfew. Pontiac, you have not heard one word, and these kids are going wild," said Quinn.
According to Pontiac City Council President Mike McGuinness, a curfew is not always the solution.
"To me, it's gotta be a multi-pronged approach, rather than just say if there's kids out and it's after X pm at night, ticket them, detain them, send them home because that could also spiral out and get out of hand," McGuinness said.
McGuinness says Pontiac takes violence seriously, and while there's always more work to be done, city leaders are committed to keeping residents safe.
"We've invested in community policing. The sheriff's department is working to be in the neighborhood, in the community to help address matters. And we've also invested in group violence intervention or GVI. Those are initiatives that have worked in other cities around the country. Pontiac deserves to have a good reputation, Pontiac deserves to have safe neighborhoods, and while we've seen improvement there, we still have a way to go," said McGuinness.
For councilwoman Melanie Rutherford, who represents district one, it comes down to providing alternatives to violence and making our younger demographic feel heard.
"You can't prevent violence, but you can give them alternatives to violence. What we have to do is be the changemakers in the community. One way we do that is saying I care, I matter, you matter, we matter, and when we have those conversations, children will be like 'We'll pause.' The pause can change a person's life," said Rutherford.
Rutherford also says a neighborhood watch is soon starting in her district to address these concerns.
Oakland County Sheriff's Office public information officer Stephen Huber sent the following statement:
"Having a zero-tolerance enforcement policy for curfew violations would be a substantial change in how the city of Pontiac, through its policing, interacts with its youth. That is really a policy question that is best addressed by the city."
CBS News Detroit also reached out to Pontiac City Mayor Tim Greimel, but he was unavailable for comment.