Jim Schaefer

Detroit Free Press

Depending on where you live, you may or may not experience problems like Jonathan Pommerville’s.

He lives in Brightmoor, one of the most downtrodden and abandoned neighborhoods in Detroit. Pommerville, 38, grew up there and lives there now, and he’s proud of it. So proud, in fact, that he’s taken up a mission to rid it of two long-standing plagues: prostitution and illegal dumping.

He doesn’t call the cops, not right away at least. He drives up and videotapes the culprits, caught in the act, in situations that sometimes get quite hairy.

A few minutes with ... a woman in need of a chicken wrangler

And then Pommerville posts his videos on the Internet for all the world to see.

Tell me how you got into what you’re into right now.

Out of frustration. I was tired of cuttin’ my grass and findin’ condoms on my front lawn. And trash dumped down the street from me. I started doin’ this almost by accident. I was so frustrated about it, and when I finally decided, you know what, I’m not going to take this any more; I’m gonna go ahead and do something, the only thing I could think of was either shoot ‘em or shoot ‘em with my camera. (Chuckles.)

So your mantra is “Chasing Humpers and Dumpers.” Can you explain?

Yes, humpers and dumpers. If you’re comin’ in my neighborhood pickin’ up hookers and dumpin’ off your trash, you’re going on YouTube. (Big smile.)

Any favorite moments?

A few minutes with ... a 73-year-old weight-lifting phenom

Yeah. When I get home and I get to relax. That’s my favorite moment. I don’t enjoy doing any of this stuff. I guess I do enjoy it, but it’s tiresome. What I really enjoy is not having to do it. I yearn for the day this type of activity doesn’t happen in my neighborhood or in the city of Detroit.

How much time are you putting into this?

Too much. I have a small business that suffers dearly. And it’s my pocketbook that suffers dearly as well. ... I couldn’t tell you what makes me get up tomorrow and do it for free.

You’ve had some dangerous moments. I saw one video where it appears some guys were trying to threaten your life. You chased a pickup or something and had to back up a couple hundred yards to get away from ‘em, right?

(Chuckles.) Yeah, that was a little hair-raising experience. It’s to be expected. ... These guys were just lookin’ for trouble. Unfortunately for them, 15 minutes after that encounter, they were picked up. Both of ‘em had felony warrants, and they’re probably looking at jail time for a while.

Do you get nervous? I mean this is crazy!

You don’t know what you’re gonna come up on. The worst thing would be if somebody would go ahead and actually bring a gun out against me. And then I would have to defend myself. That’s what I don’t want. ... I want to de-escalate the situation as much as possible and treat them like a human.

Tell me about “Return to Sender.”

“Return to Sender.” It’s one of those things that has captured the attention and imagination of just about everybody that’s seen these videos. It’s about social justice. It’s about taking trash back to the source.

And you do this because you actually rifle through the trash until you find something that identifies the dumper, pretty much, right?

Right on. We’re looking for an address. And not only that, there are other ways of tracking down this dirt and debris and junk that they’re throwin’ out here. And all they have to do is slip up. One way or another, I’m gonna go ahead and return it back to them. ... The reason why we’re in this spot now is because there has been no repercussions for doing these types of deeds in my neighborhood.

What about the guys you catch dumping? You’ve never gotten hurt, right?

No, I haven’t got hurt doing anything of this. I think the last thing they want to do is add to their troubles. And I’m a pretty intimidating guy, you know? And I don’t take any crap from anybody.

Tell me about Brightmoor. You’ve spent a significant portion of your life here.

Back in the day it was these houses that were beautiful homes ... people from the South, all kinds of folks that were factory workers. This Brightmoor area was known for its 13 bars, up and down Fenkell, including the bike clubs and that sort of deal. It was a home, and it still is a home. After so many years, when the white flight happened, this area turned from home ownership to landlords. And when we have landlords owning all the land around here, you have disrespect for it. It becomes a throw-away society.

How long you going to keep doing this, keep patrolling with your video camera rolling?

I’m gonna keep doin’ this until it subsides. ... It’s well worth it. When I get people searching me out, saying, “I want YOU as a neighbor,” that’s something to be proud of.

What’s your message to the humpers and dumpers?

If you’re a humper, get yourself a hotel room. We don’t want to see it on our streets. We’ve got kids that live in the neighborhoods. If you’re a dumper, I’m gonna see you on YouTube. … Quit dumpin’ in the D. That’s probably the best thing I could say. Quit doin’ your dirty deeds in the D.

Check out Pommerville’s videos by searching “Fochnut” on YouTube. Contact Jim Schaefer: 313-223-4542 or jschaefer@freepress.com. On Twitter: @DetroitReporter