Detroit Motorists Under Siege in ‘Carjack City’

Published Friday, May 23, 2014 | 7:39 a.m.

DETROIT (AP) — When they pull up to a gas station these days, Detroit drivers are looking beyond theprice per gallon at a far more threatening concern: carjackers. 

The armed auto thieves have become so common here that parts of the bankrupt metropolis are referred to as "Carjack City," and many motorists fear getting out of their vehicles even for a few moments to fill a tank. 

So gas stations are taking steps to protect customers, and the city has formed a special police team to go after suspects. Convicted carjackers will even get their faces and prison sentences plastered onto billboards. 

"You need to catch these people and make a good example of them," said Mousa Bazzi, who owns a Mobil station in a semi-desolate neighborhood bordering Detroit's east riverfront. He keeps his business well-lit and continually has two to four employees inside to ensure "there's always an extra hand or two" in case of trouble. 

Authorities blame many of the carjackings, ironically, on improvements in vehicle security. Anti-theft equipment, GPS systems and advanced locks now prevent many vehicles from being driven without a key in the ignition. 

That makes it difficult or impossible for thieves to steal parked cars, leading them to target vehicles that are occupied, said Jonathan Parnell, of Detroit's auto-theft squad. 

Also contributing to the thefts is a strong demand for stolen wheels and tires, police said.
Bazzi's station displays pale-green decals depicting a lighthouse — a sign that his business has joined the city's anti-carjacking effort. To be part of the program, stations must have security cameras, good lighting, be open 24 hours and have clerks willing to help motorists and provide a phone for emergency calls. 

"There is a waiting list," Sgt. Michael Woody said. "We have so many gas stations that want to become a lighthouse. You get better protection with that big sticker in the window that tells criminals there is proper equipment that will help police investigate these crimes." 

Detroit police reported 720 carjackings last year in the city of fewer than 700,000 people. That's down from nearly 850 in 2011 and 1,231 in 2008. 

The decline may partly be due to Detroit's freefalling population, but the thefts still exceed the carjackings in some comparably sized U.S. cities. 

Sharlonda Buckman, executive director of a Detroit nonprofit, was at a gas station on an October morning when she ran inside for aspirin. Back inside her SUV, she was just closing the door when she saw a carjacker shove his gun inside. 

She screamed and jumped out of the vehicle. The carjacker jumped in and drove off. Three other customers gave chase in their vehicles. One caught up to the SUV and got shot in the leg by the carjacker, who was later arrested. 

Now, Buckman said, she tries not to pump gas at all. 

"If the night catches me, I won't pump gas in the city," she said. "Or I'll call somebody to meet me." 

It's difficult to know how Detroit's carjackings rank nationally because many police agencies lump carjackings with all armed robberies in annual reports to the FBI. 

Newark, New Jersey, with a population of 280,000, had 382 carjackings last year, giving it a per capita rate that is actually higher than Detroit's. Memphis, Tennessee, with a population of 655,000, had slightly more than 400 carjackings over three years from 2011 through 2013. El Paso, a rapidly growing western Texas city of 670,000, reported only 15 carjackings last year and 18 in 2012. 

Through May 19, Detroit has recorded 191 carjackings in 2014, including the Feb. 24 shooting death of CVS security guard Courtney Meeks, who rushed toward a car being taken by three men, and the Feb. 4 slaying of Donald Bradshaw, a 68-year-old man who was beaten to death with a tire iron after he was carjacked at an intersection.

Prosecutors, the FBI and Detroit police recently announced a campaign to spread the word about stifferfederal penalties for carjacking, which can include the death penalty if someone is killed. A similar campaign that includes billboards with photos of convicted carjackers started last summer in Newark.

Detroit police have also announced a partnership with General Motors' OnStar roadside assistance service to track down stolen vehicles and promote rewards tied to an anonymous tip line. 

To avoid becoming a victim, security guard Greg Champion wears a handgun on his hip whenever he's pumping gas. 

"I don't want to surprise you," Champion said. "I want you to know I'm armed, and I want you to know I can defend myself, and I want you to go somewhere else."
Christine Reed takes the opposite approach. The 27-year-old mother of two won't stop for gas in Detroit. She lives north of the city in Warren and works four days a week cleaning offices downtown. 

If she's in a bad section of town, Reed said, she passes through red lights because it's tougher to carjack amoving target. 

"It's not a safe place anymore," Reed said. "It's dangerous." 

The state-appointed emergency manager tasked with restructuring Detroit's $18 billion in debt has said crime needs to be reduced to make the city attractive to new residents and businesses.
That's going to take more and better resources, said Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, who complains that she has only a few assistants to try carjackings. 

"When nobody has any resources ... all we can be is reactive," she said.

Obama's Midterm Transportation Project Push - Pulling A Fast One?

Barack Obama, the Campaigner in Chief, is busy dividing the country by race, gender, age and income for the midterm elections.  The 2014 elections will be hard for the Democrats to excite their base and get out the vote, but a list of the manufactured 'issues' Obama and the left are pushing makes their efforts apparent.  For gender, the extension of the 'war on women' was easy to identify.  Obama began  pushing the outright LIE with the 'women earn '77 cents on the dollar' to men speeches.  That was easy to debunk, yet it still continues to garner the female vote and those gullible, bleeding hearts in pursuit of  'social justice' .

A story today that covers multiple demographics for more efficient Division, was an article on Student Loan Reform legislation. A tax increase on the wealthy will enable students to lock in a permanent, very low rate on their student loans after graduation. A dual purpose piece of legislation, divide us by age and income and motivate the youthful, useful idiots to get to the polls.  Any opposition is deemed racist, so that is easy. Great job, at getting out the vote, Democrats. The only thing left would be a more unifying, common enemy for the pro-union labor base. Besides demonizing the Koch Brothers and the Tea Party, that really only leaves the GOP to target.

The article that stands out today to attack the GOP:

Obama: GOP took credit for transportation projects they ‘refused to fund’

President Obama accused Republicans of taking credit for transportation projects they refused to fund as he pressed Congress for more federal infrastructure spending in a speech Wednesday.  

"Instead of making investments that grow our economy by growing the middle class, they're still convinced that prosperity trickles down from the very top," Obama told a crowd gathered at the Tappan Zee bridge outside New York City, the site of a $3.9 billion, federally backed construction project. 

"If you want to tell them what you think about that, don't worry, because usually they show up at ribbon cuttings for projects that they refused to fund," the president added.

You see, those greedy GOP bastards are stuck in the past, pushing trickle down economics and taking credit for Obama's hard work. The nation would be so much better off if the GOP weren't around, interfering with the Dear Leader Obama and his great vision. Barack Obama  needs your help or the nation will crumble. Don't worry, infrastructure is like contraceptives, it is free, so how can you be against it.?

Coincidentally, another great infrastructure story hit the headlines too. Lets trumpet an Obama success in the solid Democrat State of Minnesota. Nothing says transportaion and infrastructure like light rail trains, correct?  Mass transit is reliable, fast and cost effective.  Let's take a look at the Metro Green Line expansion, a subject of Barack Obama's February 2014 visit and hailed as a great success, shall we?

Light rail train derails after Obama visit

Obama touted the expansion of Minnesota’s Metro light rail system to St. Paul, which is scheduled to open in June, as an example for the nation to follow. Hours later, a train ran off the tracks. 

copied from conservativebyte.com

“I just had a chance to take a look at some of those spiffy new trains,” Obama said Wednesday of the expansion of Minneapolis’ Metro light rail.  

“They are nice and they’re energy efficient. They’re going to be reliable. You can get from one downtown to the other in a little over 30 minutes instead of when it’s snowing being in traffic for two hours."

Okay, maybe it isn't reliable, but fast and cost-effective still  isn't bad.

11 miles in 67 minutes? Met Council's Green Line engineers look to shave time

Traffic engineers for the Metropolitan Council have exactly one month to figure out how to speed up light-rail trains along the new Green Line. 

Test trains along the route connecting St. Paul and Minneapolis have been taking an hour or longer to travel from one end to the other, exceeding initial projections of 40 minutes. 

Met Council officials they're working hard to shave off those extra minutes in the weeks leading up to the June 14 launch.

Okay, well it least it was cost-effective.

The project, which cost $957 million or almost  $90 million dollars a mile to build, — half of it supplied by federal funds, with the balance divided among state, regional, county and city governments — includes 18 new stations in addition to five to be shared with the Blue Line in downtown Minneapolis. 

Officials heralded the economic development promised by the Green Line, which will link the two downtowns and the University of Minnesota via University Avenue. The Met Council estimates that the line so far has yielded $1.7 billion in private development already built or still to come. 

“This is really going to pay off,” Haigh said.

Great projections, any foreseeable shortfall? 

However, about 30 percent of the Green Line development counted by the Met Council also is along the Blue Line in downtown Minneapolis. The analysis is mostly based on published reports in daily, weekly and business newspapers.

Well, there is that double counting........

I think I can, well I know I can think of this as the little train that could be a money pit. Toot your own horn, Mr. President.