The Associated Press
DETROIT (AP) -- Detroit’s police chief announced the creation of a multi-agency task force meant to head off more violence in city neighborhoods.
Calling it Project Crusaders, Chief Ella Bully-Cummings said Sunday at a news conference that the agencies “are going to do everything we can to stop the recent spike” in violence.
She said the joint effort will flush criminals from the most maligned neighborhoods in the city, the Detroit Free Press reported Monday.
“We know who you are, we know where you are, we are coming to get you,” she said.
The announcement comes after a bloody month of violence in Detroit’s streets.
There were 35 homicides and 90 shootings in January. There were 26 killings and 60 shootings in January 2003.
Over a six-day period in late January, 18 people were killed -- one by a beating, 17 by bullets. Then, during the first 12 hours of February, 12 people were shot. Three died. One was a teen.
The shootings made residents and even police uneasy.
“Like every other big city in America, Detroit is facing a rash of crimes,” said Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who was also at the news conference.