It is a freezing winter’s day in snowbound Detroit as armed men alight from the ‘War Wagon’. They are volunteers with Detroit 300, a controversial organisation whose members patrol neighbourhoods in this struggling city, hunting criminals and making citizen’s arrests.

With guns in holsters strapped to their legs, the men glance nervously up and down the street as they carry out a recce with police. The 10th precinct in Detroit’s west side – epicentre of a riot in 1967 that shook America – is a wild place where 27 shootings occurred last year. As we watch from inside a black van, the crackle of a police radio announces an officer checking our location. Upon confirmation, we exit the unmarked vehicle into the sub-zero temperatures.

Operation Mistletoe, phase two of a major drugs raid, finished less than an hour ago when 350 officers from the Detroit Police Department (DPD) battered down doors and arrested 37 people. The sweep was one of the largest Detroit had witnessed for years and, in a unique initiative, now these armed civilians are participating in the follow-up to hand out Christmas presents to frightened residents. Their involvement is part of a strategy to reclaim the streets from criminals in a city that is now bankrupt and, in parts, a crime-ridden wasteland.



Detroit is one of the most dangerous places in America. In 2013 the Motor City suffered the same amount of killings as New York – 333 – despite its population being 11 times smaller. There is little street lighting in some areas, and police are so stretched that until recently, it took on average 58 minutes for officers to respond to emergency calls.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Detroit is the largest US city by population to file for bankruptcy. Photograph: Angela Catlin

The spark for the formation of the Detroit 300 citizen force was the rape of a 90-year-old woman in her home in 2010. She survived the attack but died later that year. At the time, outraged locals helped police track the attackers and were credited for obtaining information leading to the arrest of three teenagers. Detroit 300 was subsequently launched, its name coming from the 2007 Hollywood film 300, which starred Gerard Butler as the leader of a band of Spartan warriors.

Eric Ford, Detroit 300’s president, says there are now 1,500 members, including an elite armed section dubbed the ‘A Team’, with whom we are on patrol. “We’ve solved 10 major crimes, including an assist in catching the killer of three-year-old Aarie Berry, who was murdered in a gangland shooting in July 2011,” Ford says as we speak in the snow.

For some, the rise of this quasi-police force is a disturbing development, and there are concerns over a lack of transparency regarding the relationship between DPD and Detroit 300. Today, they are working hand-in-hand: I am introduced to the police department’s commander chaplain Amy Kamm, who says: “After the sweep we’re going to bring some peace back to this neighbourhood because [the raid] can be dramatic. They’ve seen the difficult things police do, so now they’re going to see the positive things that we can bring. This is part of a new strategy of community policing brought in by new police chief James Craig. This is a new chief, a new protocol and a new plan.”

DPD has been severely criticised in recent years for its performance, but Craig aims to reduce overall crime by 10% in 2014 and quicken emergency response times. In an interview published this month by the National Rifle Association’s magazine, America’s First Freedom, Craig claimed response times to 911 calls now average between 8 and 11 minutes. If true, than it’s been a good first year in the job for the local boy who spent 28 years with the Los Angeles Police Department.

But crime is still rife in the city, and it appears that Detroit 300 has a pivotal part to play in Craig’s future plans. In a statement earlier this year, he said: “The criminal predators here are very violent. So, good Americans who are responsible who conceal weapons can make a difference. There are studies out there that show that. We’re not talking about vigilantes; we are talking about good Americans who are trained … I don’t care what city you talk about in America. We [the police] cannot be everywhere.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Members of Detroit 300 work with the police to bring some festive spirit to a poorer area of the city after a drugs raid. Photograph: Angela Catlin

Detroit 300 says it is a non-violent “community action group” that fully complies with state law at all times. Its legal adviser and vice-president uses the pseudonym ‘Mr Blue’ for security reasons, as the group’s members could be targeted by criminals for assisting police. He says he became involved after two of his brothers were murdered.

“The original call was for men who were not scared, who were not cowards, to come out and take the streets back,” Mr Blue explains. “We are unique in America: no one else does it the way we do it. We’re not much into trying to meet and compromise and have parlays or all that other stuff. We are a conglomerate of citizens; some are law enforcement although we don’t disclose who. I am a certified firearms instructor and I instruct in close-quarter combat fighting. We have taken serial rapists off the streets. In the case of babies, there were four babies murdered in drive-bys (the youngest was nine months old) and all those guys were brought to justice.”

According to Mr Blue, every Detroit 300 volunteer is instructed in Michigan state law MCL 764.16, which gives citizens the right to make an arrest. New members are also taught rules on carrying weapons in public, both open and concealed. Mr Blue says citizens are actually less restricted than police in what they can do in order to arrest someone. They can also break down an inner or outer door to apprehend a person suspected of committing a serious crime.

“Law enforcement has to go to a judge and get a warrant but by that time there’s the possibility the person you want will have slipped away,” Mr Blue says. “We don’t need to go to a magistrate to get a warrant. If we apprehend someone, we turn them over to a deputy’s sheriff or a magistrate ourselves.

“What I will say is that, if you make a mistake, you subject yourself to liability. So all our guys are fully trained because there could be legal action taken against them. We operate completely within the law. We are out to make our city safer. This is a mission for us.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The group is named after the Hollywood blockbuster 300. Photograph: Angela Catlin

According to the Law Centre to Prevent Gun Violence (LCPGV), concealed guns increase the risk that disagreements will escalate into shootouts, especially in urban hotspots such as clubs and bars: “Claims that permissive Carrying Concealed Weapon [CCW] laws lead to decreases in crime – by helping permit holders fight off criminals and sending the message to would-be attackers that any potential victim might be packing heat – are simply untrue,” the LCPGV states.

It points to an analysis of news reports that found CCW permit holders have killed at least 14 law enforcement officers and 622 private citizens since May 2007. These incidents included 27 mass shootings and 39 murder-suicides.

“Another study of Texas’s permissive concealed carry law found that between 1 January 1996 [when the law first took effect] and 31 August 2001, Texas concealed handgun licence holders were arrested for 5,314 crimes, including murder, rape, kidnapping and theft. From 1996 to 2000, licence holders were arrested for weapons-related crimes at a rate 81% higher than that of the state’s general population aged 21 and older.”

Elsewhere, some US cities have looked to new technology to reduce gun crime rates, such as the gunshot detection system ShotSpotter. This pinpoints the location of gunfire in order to help police respond quickly. However some authorities, including Detroit City Council, have questioned the system’s cost effectiveness. Detroit rejected a deal, saying there would not be enough officers to respond to the alerts.

• Laura Amico: What Homicide Watch taught me about crime in America

