Detroit mall wants a private security police agency to fight crime that the police do not respond to

DETROIT, Mich. (WXYZ) - Private security guards will be able to take matters into their own hands after they become private security police at the Tower Center Marketplace in Detroit.

“We’re not replacing the police, we’re assisting,” said Dawan Thurmond. Thurmond would have been able to stop a tow truck driver and arrest him for taking off with a trailer if he was private security police detail, but as a security guard he does not have that power.

“We want to secure the property or the individuals until police arrive,” said Thurmond.  Sometimes Detroit police do not make it to the mall until it is too late and the bad guys are gone.  Manager Herb Strather said people will not come to the mall anymore if they do not feel safe.

“If the police cannot protect a building that is two blocks from them when there is an alarm, how can we possibly expect them to protect us,” said Strather.

The security guards will need new training and the mall will have to receive a license from the state to be a private security police detail. 

“We cannot survive unless we bind together, join together as a community and come up with new ways with which to protect ourselves,” said Strather.

Currently there are 13 other private security police agencies in the state including ones at the Detroit Medical Center and Fairlane Town Center.

Tower Center Marketplace will expect mall businesses and some of the residents in the area to pay a stipend to help pay for the private security police agency if they go forward with the idea.