Detroit police help clean up home surrounded by junk, changing the image of a whole block

Detroit police officers are doing their part in keeping the city up to par.

On Wednesday night, they helped one resident dig out a mound of stuff. His entire house was surrounded by junk and neighbors were fed up. It was a cleanup that changed a whole block, and it’s not just about what it looks like.

"Once upon a time, believe it or not, this used to be a very, very nice neighborhood," said neighbor Darrell Washington. "Lot of opossums and rats coming from over there because it's so just a bunch of junk."

It kept mounting and someone actually lives there too, somewhere.

"He had an old pontoon boat just hanging out there, he had like 40 garbage cans," said neighbor James Jackson.

Ugly? Yes. Smelly? Yes, and when it looks like no one is paying attention out here, especially the police, crime moves in too.

"They dump stolen cars over there, they think they can start stripping the houses over there, but when you start cleaning it out they see someone is over there, they see the police in action, they see that we are involved in the neighborhood, and it really slows it down," said Commander John Svec.

Neighborhood police officers, (NPOs) as they’re called, at the Ninth Precinct, are monitoring the mess, and answered the call to action this week with a cleanup plan with the city at a home off Tacoma Ave, near Gratiot.

"The citizens really appreciate when they call the NPOs, and they get an instant response instead of, yeah we will get to in three weeks. They get to it the next day," said Svec.

A dozen deep in the cleanup crew heavy machinery and 12 dumpsters later it’s unrecognizable in the best way. All under the watch of NPO Aaron Kraszewski.

"Officer K came through and told him he had to move, and they gave him a certain time, and he didn’t comply, so he came through and cleaned up," said Jackson. 

They’re not done either, as more houses are in the crosshairs for cleanup.

"I feel like the block is trending in the up direction. It's good to see, so I guess next is to get rid of the rest of these vacant houses and build and bring it back," said Washington.

FOX 2 was told the homeowner might be on the hook for cleanup costs. It’ll go through the courts now to settle all that and any outstanding tickets.