Press enter after choosing selection

Police Have Gangs In Trick Bag

Police Have Gangs In Trick Bag image Police Have Gangs In Trick Bag image Police Have Gangs In Trick Bag image
Parent Issue
Day
3
Month
September
Year
1976
OCR Text

The way the Cobo Hall invasion by young thugs went down has served to convince many people, including those who wouldn't ordinarily even entertain the thought, that some big forces are behind the youth gang crimes.

While most appreciate the 10 o'clock curfew imposed on anyone under 18 years old and the strict enforcement of it, the freeway patrols by state troopers and other anti-crime measures now being taken, there is much apprehension throughout the community.

And now the call for removal of Police Chief Phillip Tannian is spreading rapidly. It has become louder since Rev. Ray Shoulders, a northwest Detroit businessman, testified last week before Sen. Basil Brown's hearing on the city's crime situation and demanded the removal of Tannian.

Shoulders said the city cannot become safe without a competent police department, and the police department cannot operate competently without the proper leadership. Tannian hasn't provided it, Shoulders charged.

Reports are circulating around the community that some sources high up on the ladder are furnishing the youth gangs with sophisticated weapons. A recent news media port said that while youthful criminals in some other cities are packing Saturday Night Specials, Detroit youth gangs are toting .38 specials and other type guns commonly used by police officers. Why?

Moreover, nobody has forgotten the computer printout list of black police officers, their addresses, phone numbers and badge numbers, that was in the hands of someone outside the police department. According to our information those names were the property of the department and couldn't have been obtained by an outsider.

All of this is tied to the attack on Executive Deputy Police Chief Frank Blount, a 26-year veteran of the Police Department who came up through the ranks without a blemish. Whenever discussions of youth crimes were held, someone would usually respond: "Get Frank Blount on the case. He is the person to handle it."

Tannian also knew about a so-called investigation of Blount, other top police officers and at least one member of the City's Civilian Police Commission, 4 months ago. Yet Mayor Young reportedly was not apprised of any such probe, which gives rise to additional questions.

As of this writing, Mayor Young has not yet received any reply from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to his demand for a detailed account of the alleged probe, or the clearing of Blount's name.

This reminds us of the attack on Deputy Chief George Bennett, who under the previous (Gribbs) administration cracked the 10th Precinct narcotics case. There were false charges of a similar nature hurled against him, but nothing came of them.

To let such accusations die instead of clearing the record is absolutely inexcusable. It gives rise to suspicions that efforts toward character assassination are underway. 

Police said the Cobo Hall raid on the rock concert was planned and that the black youths had every exit covered. That's how it looks from this quarter. But how could that occur without police knowledge? And why, on the heels of the youth gang terrorism at the International Festival fireworks display, and the subsequent roundup of youth gang members by the police gang squad at the Afro-American Festival, didn't the police anticipate the need for their presence in greater force at Cobo Hall?

This brings us to some earlier warnings that there are forces among us who want to get a riot going. And what better way to do so than allow a confrontation to develop between black and white youth. It could have happened. The majority of those present at Cobo Hall were white.

Moreover, there are reports also circulating that about 200 black youths who wouldn't have paid the fare out of their own pockets were provided tickets to that concert. If this is true, it had to be a setup.

Then too, there is the report (cited in a previous Sun article) that citizens on the east side complain that some police just stood by and let the youth crime wave go full circle. If so, why? There really should be a check into police assignments, to find out whether or not there is any shirking of responsibility. And here again, it lies right in the lap of Chief Tannian.

There are many police officers and those of higher rank who are really working in the interest of this community and its citizens, and they should not be put in the same boat with officers of negative intent. And the Chief knows this.

It is understandable that police officers can become frustrated on their jobs, just like anyone else in a different occupation that requires leadership. But for some officers to declare publicly, as was cited in one of the dailies, that they slowed down because they don't like what the mayor is doing, is preposterous.

Does this mean that every time they resent something the Mayor says or does, they will stop policing the city or slow down their efforts on the job? Such acts bring discredit to the entire police force, and this simply shouldn't be happening. 

We have cited a national report that plans are underway to discredit black officials, and this is happening in other cities where blacks are in top leadership roles. There is evidence to substantiate that some things happening are designed for just that purpose.

But we cannot afford to become paranoid over this. We simply have to realize that it is very possible and thus be on the lookout for any phony setups. The wise person will keep his or her head on straight and be ready to intercept a foul play before it surfaces.

What is really tragic, however, is that far too many young people, and quite a few older ones, are perfect pawns in the political power game. They don't seem to realize that they will be the goats in the end. They will be the losers.

In a previous edition of The Sun, we reported that some youths 18 and over are acting as advisers to gang members, teaching the rules of successful crime to their younger counterparts. But common sense tells us that it goes further than that. And if we review the events in their trail of crimes, it is clearly obvious.

Young blacks should know that those who furnish them with sophisticated artillery to use on their own community and teach them how to commit crimes against the people more expertly, are using them for purposes the youths will later regret. And there will be no way out if they continue in that path.

Far too many don't know friend from foe, and in their naive striving for what they think is power, they are being sucked into a quagmire of evil slime from which there will be no way out and no rescue party to save them. If they could check out the laws of average, they would foresee this.

And such a result is not as far away as they think it is. It is very close at hand - so close that pretty soon the community is going to have to sever its ties from them for its own survival. Sounds awfully caustic and final, doesn't it? Well, that is exactly what the present foretells of the future - that is, if there is going to be a future. And everybody had better wake up to the facts of life.

Moreover, the parents who have allowed their offspring to raise themselves anyway they could with no guidance or discipline, are not going to get away with their negative attitudes toward their children. This goes double for parents who have taught criminal behavior. They are going to have to pay the price for what they failed to do - and that, too, is a fact of life, believe it or not.