Flint's mayor making safety a priority

FLINT (WJRT) -- (09/04/09)--Flint Mayor Dayne Walling says public safety is one of his top priorities.

Friday he and Police Chief Alvern Lock outlined progress being made.

Walling has said he wants a police mini-station in every single ward in the city.

Lock Friday said the one on Ballenger Highway will soon be open again and staffed with an officer recently hired back with federal stimulus money.

"We'll be opening more mini-stations and every one of those mini-stations will have the technology that will allow officers to report and submit all of their paperwork through the computer," he said.

"They won't have to drive back to headquarters during the course of their shifts. This will save time and it will put more officers on the streets."

The backdrop this afternoon? A spot near the campus of Kettering University -- a street that is no stranger to crime recently.

In on instance, a Kettering student was in bed sleeping when a guy with a gun came in with a shirt covering his face and robbed him.

"We are doing everything we can to keep this area as safe as possible, but we're still asking for citizens in the neighborhood to help us," Lock said.

"And part of the way you can help us is we have a hotline you can use."

Donald and Mary Ann Bronson have lived near the Ballenger Highway area for 28 years. They say they were robbed last year.

"They took all my jewelry," Mary Ann said.

"They took all the drawers out of here," Donald said.

They left the chest that's now up for grabs at their garage sale.

"I'm sure everything they're going to do is going to help some, but I'm not too sure about the mini-stations," Mary Ann said.

"Mott Park used to sponsor one and nobody ever came in. I think there's better ways to use the money."

Over at the Perky Dip, the backdrop for the mayor's announcement Friday, owner Peter Banwell hopes the plan to increase police presence works.

"The bad guys know the situation," he said.

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