Detroit Police Commissioners ask for public safety millage

DETROIT (WXYZ) - Detroit's Board of Police Commissioners is thinking out of the box and says that's the only way to put cops in the neighborhood at a time when the city can't afford to.

They're proposing a special policing millage that would pay for about five hundred police officers and a lesser number of fire fighters.

Announcing the innovative plan Wednesday they were joined by a number of former commission members.

"It boils down to - you have crime, do you want to pay four or five dollars a week to put two or three extra patrol cars in your neighborhood?" asked Arthur Blackwell.

Commissioner Jerome Warfield says they've heard rumblings the city may try to reduce the number of police officers by three hundred.

"We want to make it clear we cannot lose one other officer," he says.

The commissioners calculate seven mills would cost home and property owners about four dollars a week for five years and raise about fifty-six million dollars a year.

They will formally present their proposal to city council Thursday when members hold a budget hearing on public safety.

They want council members to put their policing millage proposal on the November ballot. They are gratified by the fact Detroit voters have repeatedly passed millages for the city's school district.