The Motor City Gets A Bad Rap

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was born in downtown Detroit.  I lived in the metro-Detroit area until I was 8 and moved back as an adult.  My parents remember slums, the most famous, the Brewster-Douglass were the birth place of Diana Ross, Florence Ballard and Lily Tomlin.

Detroit was a rough place in the turbulent 1960s.  For my family it was a place to leave and they had their reasons.  However, today Detroit is used as a punching bag to show how bad Democrats are at running cities.  While there may be ample evidence to support that, Detroit has overcome that ugly post and has started to flourish.  I’ve family who remain and they tell me now that the places we never would have gone as teens are spectacular and there is beauty and pride and love again in and for Detroit.  I have always held a warm spot for Detroit.

I am happy to share with you an interview with a man who runs a company which has had a significant contribution into the recreation of Detroit as a great city.  Dale Brown of the Threat Management Center.  He and his vision have made big strides in the changing the thought process behind confronting violence and making people safer.

 

The Interview

How many people were participating in DTMC in the beginning, in the park, and how many do you teach now?
In the beginning, there were 10 students participating in my training system. Currently, there are 50 students that are participating in our training program.

If a citizen who has been trained, taught, to defend against an assault harms that person, does DTMC have a legal liability as the facilitator of that person’s skills? I guess what I mean is DTMC exposed because someone protected herself from harm?
No, because DTMC does not advocate the use of force, and as a result any usage of force squarely falls on the shoulders of the person that used physical methods to defend themselves.

Can you offer any more insight on what Dale meant when he said his “ultraviolent view point was wrong”?
The idea that superior violence is required to manage violence is completely untrue. Empirically proven in real world situations where verbal communication, and acquiescence and even retreat were found to be the healthier response to imminent threats resulting in wealthier, and safer outcomes.

Part of DTMC business plan is to provide body guards. Is a body guard available for the asking? Can someone who feels the need call and get protection?
Yes, there are ways to do that, absolutely.

Would that person be offered an opportunity to go to self defense school, to be taught self defense skills, instead of being guarded? Might both things work together so the client is empowered?
Absolutely, that is correct. We encourage all people to train to learn how to mange threat without violence, emphasizing our anti killing philosophy, strategies and tactics.

Suppose the want for bodyguards exceeds supply. Maybe that’s just an academic critique, but how would such a situation be handled?
The demand is always higher than the ability to supply. We just simply do the best we can to provide services required by any and all means necessary.

Has DTMC had to use force, which seems a nice way to say shoot, in their efforts to deter a crime?
We have used all levels of force to defend our lives and the lives of others, but never property.

Threat Management, interpreted as private police, seems to imply managing mortal, or very serious, threats. That certainly may be part of it, but the focus seems really to be on teaching anyone and everyone how to manage even a seemingly benign threat which can escalate, maybe slowly, but then erupt onto conflict. Do you get feedback from people who later share that they successfully mitigated a threat, maybe as small as a dispute with a neighbor or a co-worker?
Yes, absolutely, including police officers who have used our training to save their lives in force-on-force armed engagements. Other police officers have used our training to avoid injury, and to de-escalate the use of fatal force resulting in saving lives. These police officers testimonials can be found on our website under “police testimonials”.

Has the City of Detroit employed some of the successes of DTMC in their own practices?
Not officially. However, the administration has been very positive and supportive, including the current chief, who told a crowd of people that DTMC is directly responsible for creating safe communities in Detroit. Safer than most suburban communities, according to the official police data.

If you know, has the opinion of the Detroit Police been improved over 20+ years from your actions?
Absolutely, police are EXTREMELY supportive now. They were very obstructive in the 1990s. The mayor spoke highly of DTMC community protection in his words “we are the best”.

The story of the Wayne State University football player pretending to be a drug dealer, when the truth was revealed, had me laughing at the sheer genius of it. Dale repeats a theme point which is prevent violence with nonviolence. Can you clarify what is meant by nonviolence? I think many people, including me, might see tackling or physical restraint as a kind of violence.
Violence is anything that causes unnecessary suffering, injury and/or death.

The idea that peaceful nonviolent defense makes a community not only safer but more prosperous is both logical and counter conditioning. That is, most of us, I suppose, would say a show of force, the intimidation of presence, would be the deterring element for safety and prosperity. Do you see neighborhoods now with neighborly activity? Kids playing and people shopping and mowing lawns?
Yes, absolutely.

I was born downtown in the mid 1960s. I don’t recall but know we lived on Jane Street and Stoepel Street. My dad lived near 8 Mile and Gratiot. As an adult in the mid 80s I lived for a short time on Cadieux Street. I don’t think that neighborhood then was terrible, but I never saw my neighbors. Harpo’s bar was just a few blocks away and unless you weren’t going to a concert, no one really had any business being there. Does the success of DTMC create a presence larger than your staff? The question seems to assume you present a threat, and you’ve stated you don’t approach people who’s behavior appears to be harmful in a threatening way. So, I wonder, then, does success at making people behaving badly feel unwelcome make neighborhoods more safe because they prefer to be where they’ll not be made uncomfortable?
Yes, violent people, that are predatory in nature, view us as a hard target. We in turn build a bridge, psychologically, with violent predators in order to redirect them, in order to create non-adversarial actions leading to non-violent outcomes.

What is the—is there—a starting place, a philosophy, on how to create a condition where violence cannot occur?
Yes, it starts with our anti-kill philosophy which supports the belief that there is always a way to preserve human life under all conditions.

Does it come across your radar to help people who might be violently self-injurious? There are many ways for that to happen, but maybe from physically assaulting one’s self or a threat of suicide?
Yes, on multiple occasions.

Is DTMC actively patrolling? When you do scanning, deter, detect, defend, you would have to be in that person’s proximity in the first place.
Yes, we don’t call is patrolling. We call it scanning. Patrolling is ambiguous, where as scanning is definitive, we actually are performing tasks required for the management of human threat. We must deter predatory conditions, we must detected predator intentions, and defend people from predators.

To maybe rethink the police idea and move it from a noun to a verb, DTMC is almost the pre-police. You are active with the person to eliminate any behavior that could cause harm and the City Police is the post-engagement entity. Is that a good, if simple, explanation of what you do?
Yes, that is correct. We are providing preventive management of threat. Police are providing the enforcement of laws that have already been broken.

This idea may be politically hot, but as Dale explained his experience as a new resident in Detroit with the other residents and the police, he says they seemed intent on “imprisonment of every single African American they could under all conditions, real or false.” Maybe the incarceration problem identified by Bernie Sanders is, in part anyway, totally being misidentified. From your observation in Detroit, is that possible?
We are not familiar with Bernie Sanders statement regarding this.

That question, of course, is hot because if so, there are a great many more issues that demand attention, issues we might be choosing to overlook.

Since the Tom Woods interview, what good, and maybe not good, have you seen develop in Detroit? I know people who visit the city with some frequency and the horror we are told is Detroit isn’t their reality. They report that the city, with all the problems, is making very good efforts to change for the better. Is that your observation also?                                            Yes, the obstruction to Detroit has been elevated by electing an European American Mayor, as [a] result the corporations, surrounding communities, and European Americans across the county seem to have united to support Detroit, rather than continue their efforts to destroy it.

How can people learn more about Detroit Threat Management Center?
We can be reached at ‪800.525.3491 or at www.ThreatManagementCenter.com