Mount Clemens commissioners press for more patrols, bench changes and partner coordination to address downtown safety and behavioral-health issues

Mount Clemens commissioners opened an off-week work session to respond to complaints from downtown businesses and residents about increasing violence, open drug use and sanitation issues. The meeting focused on whether the problem should be treated primarily as homelessness or as mental-health and addiction-related behavior and what immediate steps the city can take.

"This is not a homeless issue. This is a mental health and an addiction issue," said a resident and business owner who identified himself as Steven Saf Jr., arguing that many people downtown resist traditional shelter outreach and that some return immediately after short-term enforcement. Several business owners and residents told commissioners they had seen fights, public urination and an apparent overdose that required naloxone.

City Manager Shipman introduced Sergeant Scott Jones of the sheriff’s substation, who described recent steps by law enforcement: "We started talking about this. We did increase foot patrols. They were doing regular extra patrols...they're now doing foot patrols," Jones said, and staff said dispatch can be set to automatically send a deputy at a set time each morning on request. Jones reported the department has observed new people arriving on buses, and that a small number who answer questions have said they came from Detroit or Wayne County, though many decline to say where they came from.

Commissioners said they had already investigated stronger ordinances but that the city attorney cautioned many of the tougher options, such as strict time-limited loitering rules, could run afoul of state law or civil-rights challenges. "We looked at other communities and I found some things that were tougher than we had on the books and I brought these to the city attorney and right away they went, 'Oh, no. You can't do that,'" one commissioner said.

With legal tools limited, commissioners and staff focused on practical, local measures. Actions discussed and advanced include:

- Increased targeted foot and vehicle patrols at known problem windows (early morning walkthroughs around 7–8 a.m. and enhanced late-night patrols around 11 p.m.), with dispatch able to set recurring calls to send deputies; Sergeant Jones said this approach can be adjusted to business reports.

- Clearer signage and enforcement of existing park-hours rules: staff reminded the commission Rotary Park is subject to a "closed at dusk" ordinance that deputies may enforce.

- Public-space modifications such as removing or retrofitting benches ("bench toppers" or seat dividers), changing low walls and adding hostile landscaping where appropriate to reduce opportunities to sit or lie down, combined with improved lighting and camera encouragement for private-property corridors.

- A proposal to form a smaller committee or roundtable of city staff, commissioners, nonprofit service providers and county partners to coordinate capacity, bus-ticketing practices and after-service steps so arrivals downtown are better planned and people receive follow-up services rather than being released to a single downtown location without supports.

Business representatives told the commission a prior "full court press" of enforcement had reduced visible problems and brought customers back. "We had two weeks and it was amazing," said Mickey Weiss of the Downtown Development Authority, describing an earlier period of intensive attention that temporarily cleared problem behavior downtown.

Several speakers stressed the distinction between people in need of housing and those whose behavior poses public-safety risks due to intoxication, violence or criminal acts. Commissioners recognized enforcement is limited when businesses and witnesses are unwilling to be complainants and noted state legislation and local capacity constrain criminal outcomes for low-level offenses; one law change referenced in discussion (public-act release provisions) directs officers to issue citations for many misdemeanor-level offenses and limits detention options.

Commissioners emphasized they do not want citizens to act as enforcers and repeatedly encouraged anonymous reporting to dispatch rather than direct confrontation. The mayor and staff recommended retailer training, anonymous reporting channels and communication of the dispatch number to reduce fear of retaliation among business owners.

The meeting closed with agreement to pursue the near-term items—more targeted patrols, clearer signage that parks close at dusk, lighting improvements and bench/landscape modifications—while forming a smaller working group to meet with county agencies and nonprofits to address longer-term service coordination. The commission adjourned after the chair called for a motion.

What’s next: staff will work on signage, coordinate targeted patrol timing with the sheriff’s substation, catalogue locations for bench or wall modifications, and convene a smaller committee of city officials and partner agencies to examine ticketing, post-service follow-up and capacity issues.