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Committee hears repeated public pleas to engage youth downtown rather than rely on policing

Public Health and Safety Standing Committee (City of Detroit) · April 6, 2026
AI-Generated Content: All content on this page was generated by AI to highlight key points from the meeting. For complete details and context, we recommend watching the full video. so we can fix them.

Summary

Public commenters and council members told the Public Health and Safety standing committee on April 6 that Detroit should prioritize youth programming, wraparound services and de-escalation rather than increased policing downtown; the committee asked the administration to brief members on summer plans and training.

The Public Health and Safety standing committee heard an hour of public comment on April 6 focused on treatment of young people downtown and alternatives to policing.

Residents urged the committee to prioritize engagement and services. Jennifer Onwenu, a resident of District 2, said downtown youth “were met with shunning, arrested, and disrespected” over the weekend and asked the city to seek inclusive, non-predatory approaches ahead of the Grow Detroit Youth Talent program. Parish Halsall told the committee that “public safety is not improved due to an increased police presence” and asked…

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