By: Maria Allard | Roseville-Eastpointe Eastsider | Published May 3, 2024
EASTPOINTE — After being inactive for a couple of years, the Eastpointe Neighborhood Watch might be coming back.
On the evening of April 23, Police Chief Corey Haines and Fire Chief Brian Marquardt hosted a kickoff meeting at City Hall to discuss restarting the program. About 45 residents attended.
“This is just a quick introductory meeting so you know who I am, you know who the fire chief is. The first thing we want to do is introduce ourselves and see what kind of interest we have in a neighborhood watch program,” Haines said. “Our chaplain program has been gracious enough to offer all the help they can give us to get this program moving.”
A neighborhood watch program consists of a group of people living in the same area who work together to make the community safer. Neighborhood watch groups meet on a regular basis to plan how they will accomplish specific goals to reduce crime.
“We can’t do our job effectively without you. We need your eyes, your ears, what you’re seeing and what you can do with neighbors to help protect each other,” Haines said. “Let us know what you’re able to tell us as far as vital information, suspicious vehicles, suspicious people, things that are happening in your neighborhoods on a regular basis.”
Haines and Marquardt asked attendees to write down their names and where they lived. From there, they will map out a system to allot law enforcement to different areas in the city via the neighborhood watch.
“We’re going to get police officers assigned to your areas so that you will have a police officer you can contact should you have questions, concerns, issues,” Haines said. “If something’s happening in the neighborhood that you want to talk about, you’ll have somebody you’ll be able to get to know and you’ll be able to talk to.”
The subject of Flock surveillance cameras came up during the meeting. Haines said Eastpointe will be installing 18 such cameras throughout the city in either July or August.
“A Flock camera is basically a license plate reader,” Haines said. “Those cameras will be positioned on mostly main roads in and out of the city of Eastpointe.”
Flock cameras can assist in many areas, including finding stolen cars, Amber Alerts, or “wanted” vehicles involved in armed robberies or home invasions.
“They don’t do any kind of speed monitoring. They don’t look at the driver. They don’t look at who’s in the car,” Haines said. “It simply takes the image of a license plate.”
Last month’s meeting also gave Marquardt the opportunity to address the city’s open burning ordinance regarding fire pits.
“It is real simple. Have a commercially made pit, have a lid, have a hose or sand out by it. Have it 15 feet away from any structure,” the fire chief said. “Only burn hardwood and don’t make a bunch of smoke.
“At the end of the day, if we get called out, we’re going to go and check it out. As long as it’s not offensive to us and they’re in compliance — because they have a lid and they have an extinguishing agent and there’s an adult in attendance — we’re probably going to go, ‘OK, have a good night,’ and then walk away,” Marquardt said.
There are occasions, however, when people can get carried away with backyard bonfires. If that happens, Marquardt suggested residents call dispatch or 911.
“We’ll check it out. If it’s illegal, we will either have them put it out or we’ll put it out for them,” he said. “If we get called back again, then we end up giving them a ticket for it.”
Mike Seger, owner of Clovers Collision & Mechanical Repair on Stephens Road, was among those concerned about speeders on Stephens. He doesn’t feel there are enough traffic lights on the road.
“The traffic volume is gargantuan. It’s a speedway. When customers park on the south side of the street, I say, ‘Try to get on the north side so you don’t have to cross the street,’” he said. “There’s a lot of volume of traffic. Traffic lights would slow it down. They would curtail the volume.”
As for a neighborhood watch in the city, “It can’t hurt,” Seger said. “It’s a good thing. It’s getting the residents to be more proactive in their city with their police and fire. Being informed is the biggest thing.”
Haines came to Eastpointe as interim police chief in July. He became police chief in January. Prior to that, he served as the police chief and deputy city manager of Madison Heights.
Marquardt began working as an on-call firefighter in 1999. In 2001, he was hired full time. He became fire marshal in 2019 and is now the fire chief. He’s also the emergency management liaison.
“If a disaster strikes in the city, like a tornado comes through or anything like that, I work with the mayor and then with Macomb County Emergency Management to mitigate the problem and then hopefully get state and/or federal funds,” Marquardt said.
At press time, the next neighborhood watch meeting had not been determined. Residents can check the city’s website at cityofeastpointe.net for updates.