FLINT, MI – The city could lose its title of arson capital of the nation and fewer firebugs may have nothing to do with it.
Flint fire Chief David Cox has raised the bar when it comes to intentionally set fires.
“If no suspects, no witness, no arson squad because again if we’ve got 500 fires we can investigate 500 fires,” Cox said. “We can waste the city’s money on 500 fires and then what do you get out of it? A busted budget.”
Before Cox stepped in as chief, a suspicious fire at a vacant structure could get multiple arson investigators called to the scene even if there weren’t any suspects or witnesses.
City Council President Scott Kincaid worries that changing the city’s approach to arson will give residents a false sense of security.
“The number of arsons, if you use that process, will dramatically drop as far as statistic-wise,” Kincaid said. “That’s misleading to the community if that person isn’t sought. It doesn’t necessarily mean eventually that person doesn’t commit an arson to an occupied structure.”
The city requested more than $7.9 million through a renewal of its Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response grant in August.
In the SAFER application, Flint officials told the Federal Emergency Management Agency that there were 352 arsons in 2012.
According to statistics the city reported to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Uniform Crime Report, there were 226 arsons in 2012.
Cox did not know how many arsons occurred so far this year and the city did not provide the number of arsons in 2013.
The city would have to lay off 39 firefighters and close two fire stations if it doesn’t get the nearly $8 million grant.
The SAFER grant application was completed by former Public Safety Director Alvern Lock and other city officials, Cox said.
“I didn’t work on the SAFER grant,” Cox said.
Carrie Edwards, who submitted the SAFER grant application for the city, said the arson numbers for the grant are a combination of statistics from the fire department’s dispatch center, fire investigators and the fire marshal.
“Those numbers can be verified,” Edwards said of the 126 more arsons reported on the SAFER application than was reported to the FBI. “A lot of the arsons do not require an arson investigator to come out.”
Each law enforcement agency in the state is required to submit their crimes to the state. Each year, the Michigan State Police compares the most severe crimes for agencies with populations of 100,000 or more.
“If they are not reporting their arsons, it will show in the statistics and could result in that agency not being published in the annual publication of ‘Crime in the U.S.’ that is produced by the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program,” said Wendy Easterbrook, of the MSP. “This could risk their chances of receiving Federal grant monies if they don’t report accurate statistics.”
If Flint does not accurately report crime it could mean the city may be in jeopardy of grant dollars.
Large fluctuations in arsons in two years would get the attention of the FBI, Easterbrook said.
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In 2012, Flint saw 226 fires intentionally set compared to 287 in 2011. Still, Flint had the highest arson rate per capita in the country, according to Federal Bureau of Investigation statistics.
An analysis by The Flint Journal showed there were 1,631 fires to vacant buildings from 2008-2012 – fires that in some cases weren't included in the city's overall arson tallies if they weren't investigated.
“We just throw away money and tax resources for nothing just so the public knows we number one per capita for arsons,” Cox said, adding that other American city’s of similar size and with a large amount of blight have the same problem. “We’ve been number one per capita for a few years and what do have for it? A busted budget.”
Unlike the old system where the fire department notified the police department of suspicious fires, the battalion chief at a fire scene makes the decision to call Fire Marshal Marcus Brown who will look into the fire. It's then up to Brown to decide if he wants to call in detectives from Flint’s police department or the MSP.
“I’ve got a budget that I have to work off of. The city of Flint is broke,” Cox said. “I can’t fathom in my mind saying ‘go investigate every bird house fire we got.’”
Recently, Cox said there were vacant structures being set ablaze within a mile radius on Flint’s east side during the day.
With no suspects or witnesses and after three successive fires, Cox said he sent Brown and another firefighter out to canvass the area.
“Those were daytime fires – they were set in garages, vacant buildings and houses,” Cox said. “There was no suspects, no witnesses.”
Although the fires were not investigated as arsons, Cox said, they did stop following the move.
Kincaid understands controlling spending but said the city should still label fires as arson when appropriate.
“They could classify a vacant house as arson and not investigate it,” Kincaid said.
Cox said he is not trying to mislead anyone.
“We don’t want the citizens to feel like they’re less safe,” he said. “We want bang for our buck. When you’re a cash-strapped city as Flint is and we’re trying to get back solvent, then we need to utilize our resources as best as we can.
“It doesn’t mean we’re shortchanging people.”
Dominic Adams is a reporter for The Flint Journal. Contact him at dadams5@mlive.com or 810-241-8803. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook or Google+.