For the past three nights, residents from all over Detroit who are fed up with crime have descended upon the Russell Woods neighborhood in a northwest section of the city, reports the Detroit News. The message from outsiders and neighborhood residents, guardians and benefactors — is this: No more. No more rape, no more murder, no more drug dealing, no more anything. They’ve already confronted several suspicious people and passed along information to police.
The catalysts for the uprising were the assaults of three elderly Detroit women during a three-day span last week. For a city that has almost become numb to endless tales about crime, this was different. It felt like the criminals had crossed some type of line, residents said. Crime is rampaging in the rest of Detroit, whose 386 homicides last year compared to 471 in New York, a city with nearly 10 times more people. In Russell Woods, however, residents’ biggest brush with the law is an occasional car break-in or something stolen from a garage. Still, longtime residents said they have noticed a difference from decades ago. As nearby areas have deteriorated, more crime has drifted in. Community members said they are glad to see outsiders descend upon their streets and are eager to help them.