Detroit's new plan to fight crime pays citizens, communities up to $700K

DETROIT (FOX 2) - During his 2023 state of the city address, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan discussed a unique plant to fight crime: pay groups to prevent it in the first place.

Duggan unveiled the plan, named Shot Stoppers - not to be confused with the controversial Spotshotter plan that the city uses to track gunshots fired in the city. Instead, Shot Stopper would pay community groups up to $700,000 per year to prevent crime with a specific focus on some areas of the city.

"There's a handful of concentrated areas. But if you look back five years, Todd Bettison says it's the same neighborhoods," Duggan said on Tuesday.

Deputy Mayor Todd Bettison spent 27 years as a Detroit Police officer and he knows community groups can prevent crime.

"When I was a police officer, I would call them and say, hey, I need your help," he said.

The city is using part of the $10 million its getting from the American Rescue Plan to fund the project.

For organizations that want to get involved and stop crime, find a group where they can make a difference and apply. 

"There are some areas of the city, as you can see, its concentration.  And so those are the areas we need to focus on." Bettison said.

ShotStoppers: Community Violence Intervention is accepting applications now through April 10 and Bettison said the level at which organizations will be paid will depend on how well they perform.

"What makes our program unique is the fact that it's going to be performance-based piece of it."

In other words, if crime goes down, the groups get more money to continue their work.