* Todd Bettison, Police Chief in the City of Detroit

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
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Now in the shadow of the Capitol Dome and Lansing.
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Michael Patrick Shields is on the air.

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Good morning world, Good morning.

Speaker 4 (00:40):
You're listening to the Michigan's Big Show starring Michael Patrick Shields.
And my name is Scott Ellis, the executive director of
the Michigan Licensed Beverage Association. Filling in and you know
my next guest, I'm pretty excited to have on Chief
Todd Bedison from the Detroit Police Department. As you know,
a legend down in Detroit, spent twenty seven years with
the police department, was moved over to Deputy mayor to
help out up you know, in the Mayor's and oversee
all the public safety and a bunch of other departments,

(01:02):
and now's back as the police chief of police in Detroit.
Good morning, chief, and is this where you belong?

Speaker 3 (01:09):
Yes, sir, Yes, sir A Scott, good morning. Glad to
be with you this morning.

Speaker 4 (01:13):
Well, I'm sure it's good to put that uniform back
on again, right. You know, I miss it at times,
but then again a lot of times I don't.

Speaker 2 (01:20):
I saw you guys had.

Speaker 4 (01:21):
A press conference yesterday on the crime reduction, specifically on
you know, carjackings and and you guys are doing great
work down there. How are you achieving these drops in crime?

Speaker 3 (01:31):
Oh my god, you know, just really investing in the
tops where you know, gave them raises, and that is
allows us to be able to retain. And so we've
always done a good job with recruiting but being able
to retain. So you know, I'm at a ninety nine
percent feeld rate, so I'm fully staffed up with the

(01:51):
with with men and women, but also investing in technology
because that's a force multiplier. And so just know Mayor
Duggan being great and our city council as well being
able to give me the resources that I need. And
then collaboration, collaborating with our federal FBI at f local

(02:12):
county shares, whether it's Oakland Sheriff, Wayne County Sheriff, just
our local partners DEA, all of them, and then community
partnerships as well with our community violence intervention groups. But
once again, I have to go back to technology and
partnering with the courts, with the thirty six District Court,

(02:32):
the Prosecutor's office. I will call my friends and do
everything possible to ensure that I'm providing a safe environment.

Speaker 4 (02:40):
You know, you talk about and I'm gonna get back
to technology. But one of the things that I always,
you know, found fascinating and when I first got into
law enforcement, you know, was a push for community policing
and you know, being part of that community. And I
know you have always been part of that, and and uh,
what what are some of the things you're you know,
your agency is doing to to work with in the
community because we can't make you know, it's not easy
to make everybody happy. We got to make the street safe.
But at the same time, we want to make sure

(03:02):
we're hearing with the community. What is their role in
helping reduce crime?

Speaker 3 (03:06):
First of all, just being present in the community, listening,
being able to find out exactly what they want, and
oftentimes it's quality of life. And so when they feel heard,
meaning the community, and you're delivering on the things that
they're asking for, that's one of the keys. But we
have community members, whether it's our block clubs, whether it's
citizens or Radio Patrol, whether it's other groups that volunteer.

(03:31):
But one of the things that we did and when
I was deputy mayor, is put out contracts and allow
these groups to bid on contracts, and we funded them
with their efforts to reduce violence in the neighborhoods and
so being able to keep that going because we know
that the American Rescue Plan Act dollars they have a
sunset and will come to an end. But we invested

(03:54):
ten million dollars where community groups were able to be
it and have geographic areas within the city the most
violent areas and work on de escalation, work on conflict resolution,
work on mediation, and that has paid all big dividends
in those areas. In some of the areas where we
put these groups, we've had like a seventy percent reduction

(04:14):
in non fatal shootings and homicides on average, about a
thirty six percent reduction, and that's beating the city wide trend.
So we know that those efforts of those groups are
attributing and contributing to the reduction in violence.

Speaker 4 (04:29):
Well, and I read on that yesterday and obviously I
was going through the budget for many, many hours, and
I see that that those groups are going to be
funded again. And I do think they are key because
you want to prevent. But even with prevention and the
best we do, things are going to happen. And I
heard you talk about technology, and as you know, I've
talked to you before about technology and crime fighting. What
are you guys looking for in the future. What are

(04:49):
you guys looking for technology wise? And what are you
looking to do to help prevent and respond to crimes
and make everything safe?

Speaker 3 (04:56):
Oh yeah, I want it all, So everything that's going
to produce the results, man, because I believe that it's
not one silver bullet that's you know, because it's not
one factor that's gonna do everything. So, like we have
over one thousand green light locations and for the audience
who doesn't know what Project green Light Detroit is, that
means in our real time crime center, we actually have

(05:18):
eyes into over a thousand businesses and also they're outside
cameras in the city of Detroit, and so it's recording
and that has allowed us to be able to deter
because we have a green blinking light on that to
deter crime. But also when a crime does happen, we're
able to get those camera video assets to be able
to identify quickly who did it and apprehend them and

(05:40):
then also give that to the prosecutor office so that
we get the convictions that we need as well. But
looking towards the future, man drones are really going to
be the key. And so whether it's first responder drones
or other video assets. Like it's just one product that
I've been really eyeballing, and that's first respond drone, But

(06:00):
it's another technology too, it's called zero eyes, and so
I'm looking at that too, where if an individual pulls
out a gun, it puts a box on that weapon
notifies the PD so that we can get people there
very very quickly to address that threat that concerned. And
you know, we're all hyper sensitive when it comes to

(06:20):
you know, we hear about these mass shootings all the time.
You know, individuals have these glocks, which is were buttons
as they call them where they can modify a handgun
and making a machine gun fully automatic, and so as
first responders, we have to be there asap as soon
as the gun is produced. And this technology with drones
with zero eyes and other products like that, can give

(06:43):
law enforcement the advantage to be able to deter and
save lives, you know.

Speaker 4 (06:48):
And we're gonna have a lot of drone stuff on
the show today because it is the trend right now.
And I love hearing that Detroit is going to be
the leader in this. And you mentioned zero EIZ and
gun detected tech detection technology and all are going hand
in hand. I know zero is actually has a gun
detection that goes on a drone now, so now we're
taking it to the next level. But that also gives

(07:08):
you not only immediate responsibition report, but also doesn't it
give you the evidence and it also can de escalate
many things as well. Right having some of this information
explain how they can help de escalate maybe on a
scene or a call if you have information ahead of
time going in that's video.

Speaker 3 (07:23):
Oh yeah, it's such a deturn. I was down in Tampa,
so we do peer changes and I'll go around the
country to see what other folks are doing as well.
And so when you have a drone, they actually have
put police lights on a drone, and so in their
party district or in Ebor City, the chief down there
utilizes the drone with the police lights. And when it's

(07:43):
a large crowd and you got to disperse the crowd
where it's something that's occurring, the drone shows up with
the blinking blue and red lights and is nothing that
runs a crowd away quicker than that people disperse. It
can see and identify quickly which person has the gun,
and it takes their mind off of what they were
about to do, and now they're focused on oh crap,

(08:04):
the police are looking at me with that eye in
the sky, and so that is a huge deterrent, and
so that's what it's really about. We want to stop
it from happening in the first place. Another technology we
utilize in the city of Detroit is shot spot her
and so that's been great as well because that's changed
the culture of individuals just randomly firing guns in the
city of Detroit. And so we've been able to see

(08:27):
where that alerts police to the sound of gunfire. We're
able to get there within two minutes. Oftentimes we've been
able to make a rest. And when people see a
show up that quickly, it trains the neighborhood like, oh crap,
they have gun detection devices here and if we fire
a gun, the police will be here.

Speaker 4 (08:47):
Well, this is Chief Medison. I cannot thank you enough
for joining and I look forward to hearing more from
you and what you're doing. Great work down in the
city Detroit. This is Scott Ellis on Michigan's Big Show.

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