GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — DICE stands for Data Informed Community Engagement. It's a new strategy the Grand Rapids Police Department is implementing in areas they are directed to by data, that identify neighborhoods as "high risk" for violent crime.
But before sending in police to fix the problem, police go door to door to ask what the community needs and wants.
That way, everyone can make sure they're on the same page.
For Destiny Jones, that looks like stopping people from speeding down her road.
“We’re to the point where if you have kids, which we do, you don’t feel safe having them ride their bike to the corner and back, because if you’re speeding on my street and you accidentally hit the curb, then what?” resident Destiny Jones said.
Jones says that her heart aches for the mother of Patrick Lyoya. She says that incident casts a dark cloud over her neighborhood. However, she says she cares just as much about her children, all elementary school-aged. She says her kids deserve better, and nightly parties at the intersection near her house, cars racing by and shootings at the corner are not what she wishes her child to grow up around.
“Simple things, a light at the end of the corner. So it’s not so dark. So you won’t feel comfortable pulling up at two in the morning, barbecuing right in the intersection,” Jones said.
Jones and her neighbors have started collecting signatures for a petition to get speed bumps added to the street. Jones says they need a certain number of signatures before the city will take a look at things.
“But it’s like, what do you need to look at? Not even three blocks away, we had a kiddo lose their life because of someone speeding,” Jones said.
Jones says, if speed bumps were added to her street, reckless drivers would go up and down Franklin, making them easier for law enforcement to stop.
“You have police officers that tell you, for the whole city of Grand Rapids, there are only 15 officers available on a shift? That to me screams it’s not safe," Jones said.
Jones says she has watched seven police officers pull up to her neighborhood for a critical incident. She wonders if there are only 15 officers on any given shift, how the city can be considered safe.
“Two weeks ago, everyone that was parked on this street, every single one of their cars was sideswiped,” Jones said.
Captain Trigg with GRPD did much of the door-knocking on Thursday. So far, the department has knocked on 571 doors. Trigg says there is a public misconception that people don't want the help of police, contrary to what he sees in the South Service area as they have been practicing DICE.
“If you’re in my neighborhood, and you’re saying hey. We know this is a high-traffic area. Let me introduce ourselves to you. It’s important what’s going on,” Jones said.
Because, while areas identified by DICE are considered "high risk," they are first and foremost neighborhoods, where people like Jones live and want to raise their families without fear of playing outside.
"Then you have everybody on the corner wanting to come light candles for a vigil. Saying, we’re so sorry. But there are things that could have been put in place before any of these tragedies happen,” Jones said.
“What hurts my feelings, is you know where you’re sitting. So you also know if you and I walked to King Park, and we walked across the street and said somebody’s shooting, there would be 12 officers in minutes. Because it’s East Grand Rapids."
