First off it was fabulous. We had plenty of food, mainly salmon, beef and chicken kabobs, which were marinated, prepared and wonderfully grilled at the “Royal Kabob” restaurant by Chef Abu Sinan.

Everyone raved about the quality of meat, how seasoned it was, all the beautiful vegetables and the rice. The bread was fresh and the garlic spread was addictive.

The manager, Mr. Abdu, was ever so helpful in arranging time slots to discuss matters and the entire staff; I bow my head down to you.

Thank You! I highly recommend their catering services or just dine in for fresh food.

Momena V. Settipani

Hamtramck

Unfortunately the City Council agenda wasn’t published until Friday at 1:50 p.m., allowing little time for public input. The DDA’s agendas aren’t available to the public at all.

According to the resolution, ADT will deploy deploy four cameras. Three “to be placed along Jos. Campau between Holbrook and Caniff and one camera to be placed above ‘Shoppers World’ parking lot.” The DDA plans to spend $19,000 plus “$29,550 – $28,550 will be financed.”

Video surveillance might seem like a good idea but all major studies
show it doesn’t reduce crime. Independent analyses of crime data in the
UK, where surveillance systems are prevalent, show that “video
surveillance has no statistically significant impact on crime.” The
preliminary US studies indicate “video surveillance system in the US
little to no positive impact on crime.”

So how is this a good idea?

If we did a cost-benefit analysis on purchasing $48,550 of video surveillance equipment, based on the studies, we would not benefit in reduction of crime. In short, it’s a waste of money.

Both the 2002 Welsh & Farrington study and the 2005 Gill & Spriggs study found that video surveillance appears to push crime 200-500 feet away from the cameras while the overall crime rate is unaffected.

This is the unintended side effect, “pushing” crime away from the cameras and into the adjacent neighborhoods. The 1997 study mentioned by the DDA Manager showed crime reductions in the vicinity of the camera, but not an overall reduction of crime. The crime just moved up the block. Two new domestic studies are under way by UC Berkeley and USC and preliminary findings are the same: no significant impact on crime.

There are better ideas.

The Department of Justice “best practices” to reduce crime are for more police patrols, more community policing, neighborhood watch, and improved communication between citizens and the police department.

Why not spend the $48,550 to police the DDA area with foot and bicycle patrols? Both are community policing and would make people safer in the district. If we measured cost-benefit on both plans, we’d find that the Department of Justice best practices would do more to reduce crime in Hamtramck than video surveillance.

There’s also the issue of protecting our civil liberties. In February 2009, Cambridge, Massachusetts city council voted 9-0 against installing a video surveillance system with a $4.6M grant from the Department of Homeland Security. Marjorie Decker, a Cambridge city councilor, said, “Because of the slow erosion of our civil liberties since 9/11, it is important to raise questions regarding these cameras.”

Unlike the Department of Justice, The Department of Homeland security has spent millions deploying surveillance systems in communities and is suspected of using facial recognition software track immigrants.

Abuse of video surveillance systems is far too common. Two FBI officers in West Virginia were prosecuted for zooming in on teenage girls in a mall dressing room. A San Francisco police officer faces internal charges that he used surveillance cameras and ogle women as they walked through an airport terminal. Without proper controls, Hamtramck’s video surveillance system will also be in danger of abuse.

It is not advisable, necessary, or in the public interest to finance a video surveillance system for the DDA district. There are more effective ways to combat crime. Let’s use our heads here and not jump on the surveillance bandwagon.
Steven Cherry
Hamtramck

Thanks to the Hamtramck Public Schools family and the city at large for helping make the last day of classes for Hamtramck Public Schools students safe. The end of the 2008-2009 school year brought a much improved and calmer dismissal throughout the district.

Although not 100 percent shaving cream and egg throwing free, it was the safest dismissal in the last several years. Hamtramck Public Schools administrators, teachers, security staff, custodians and other support staff worked as a team to curb rowdy and dangerous behavior. The Hamtramck police, and Hamtramck police reserves, of course were a big help.

Parents being on the “the same page” as the school district in terms of agreeing what are acceptable school/community behavior standards is also a big help. Changing the culture of inappropriate behavior being “acceptable” is still a “work in progress,” but inroads are being made. Some students still hid eggs and shaving cream in bushes and alleys but total chaos did not occur, far from it. Students ended the year the way it should end with youthful exuberance but with a sense of school, family and community pride along with understanding safety issues and respect.

Hamtramck Public Schools staff outside of the high school, middle school, and elementary schools felt the dismissal was the calmest in years due to planning. The preparation before the last day of school which included not allowing backpacks, checking lockers, phone calls to parents whose son or daughter were heard bragging about throwing eggs and instructing parents to pick those students up from school, staggering student dismissal by several minutes, checking outdoor areas beforehand, and discussing community perceptions of wild students with the students etc. did make a difference.

Having a prepared plan is far better than just reacting. An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure. Thanks again to everyone that helped with the Hamtramck Public Schools end of the year dismissal, you made a positive difference.

Thomas Niczay

Superintendent

Hamtramck Public Schools

To the new, as well as former, publisher, Mike Wilcox, thank you for stepping back into the picture. We need you, and appreciate your support and participation.

To Charles Sercombe, it is good to once again be able to read your excellent and thoughtful writing.

It is good to see some other familiar by-lines. Also, the minutes of the various city meetings are a great addition. I wish you all a long and strong publication run together.

If and when you get set-up for subscribers of your hard copies, I will sign-up.

In the meantime, I have linked to you on my website The Informed Citizen Lobby: theinformedcitizenlobby.com , and placed the link between The Detroit News and The Free Press in the Reading section.

All the best to everyone.

Felicia Davey

Neither state nor federal law provides local law enforcement with the tools they need to prosecute hate crimes based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and other categories. According to the FBI, a victim’s sexual orientation is the third most-likely characteristic criminals single out when committing hate crimes, after race and religion.

In 2007, there were over 1,250 hate crimes committed nationwide solely based on a person’s sexual orientation. In Michigan alone that year, there were over 200 hate-motivated incidents based on a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.

Hamtramck is no stranger to hate-motivated crime – just several months ago, an Indian man walking alone on Conant was physically assaulted and robbed by three men, solely based on his perceived religion. The assailants believed he was Muslim, so he was attacked.

As the recent shooting at the U.S. Holocaust Museum demonstrates, hate-motivated crime is on the rise nationally. While people like Gary Glenn of the American Family Association seek to minimize hate crimes, or worse, demean the victims of hate-motivated crime, the only responsible thing to do is for the State Senate to pass the Michigan Anti-Bias Crime Statute to give law enforcement the tools they need to stop these destructive crimes.

Gregory Manore

Hamtramck Human Relations Commission

I thought it was good, however, I didn’t care for the article on immigration. I thought it told only half the story. The real story is about the crime illegal immigration brings to our country.

We spend trillions of dollars on health care and schools, welfare because of illegal immigration and the illegals take all their money out of our country. They also steal jobs such as plumbing, landscaping, construction and electrical.

They also don’t pay taxes.

Stop telling us one side of the story like all the other liberal papers.

Jim Bialas

Hamtramck