Detroit's consent agreement with the state includes the lease of Belle Isle to the state Department of Natural Resources, which concerns some residents because the management transfer likely means the traditionally free park may soon require a fee for entry.

As the transfer of oversight approaches, MLive Detroit is taking a look at various aspects of Belle Island and what it means to Detroit residents.

Belle Isle Public Safety 8 Gallery: Belle Isle Public Safety

DETROIT, MI

— Belle Isle has an unsafe reputation that sometimes precedes it.

If you read

, there are references to gang and drug activity, out-of-towners asking questions, whether a visit to the island would

But hundreds if not thousands visit Belle Isle daily, the majority families or couples who picnic along the 5 miles of riverside or gather for family reunions in pavilions.

They use the sport facilities — tennis courts, handball courts, softball fields, bike lanes — lounge on beach, slip down the water slides and barbeque.

"It's quiet, nicest place in the city," says 26-year Detroit police veteran Lt. Michael Nied.

The ceilings of the 1865-build police station on Belle Isle are tall, the wood trim stained dark. There's a fireplace in the entrance, antique heat registers jut from walls throughout, air conditioners sit in windows and box fans circulate air.

Nied rolls his squeaky office chair over the chipped linoleum floor toward a computer monitor. He clicks his mouse and a map of Belle Isle and Detroit to the north appears.

The map of Belle Isle remains relatively clear while the portion above East Jefferson fills with hundreds of small icons indicating reports of various crimes.

"We haven't had a shooting here in... at least two and a half years, no Part 1 crimes," says Neid, who is amid his second assignment to Belle Isle, which lasts from April to September. "The back side of island on weekends is younger folks drinking and smoking and we might write 150 tickets per week," most of which are traffic tickets, drinking-related or for swimming in forbidden areas.

"We had a couple drownings last year... There's a couple areas over here where they're getting in, it's a mud bottom, you jump in and your feet get stuck."

Weekend gatherings on "the strand," located on the eastern section of the island where people gather to "cruise," show off their cars and rims, flirt and drink, sometimes cause problems, the lieutenant said.

"The biggest problem is traffic jams," Nied said. "I don't think there's drug dealing out here. When you get out on The Strand sometimes on weekends in the evening they're smoking some pot. And if we catch them we'll ticket them."

Park administrators now impose a 10 p.m. curfew for the island that Nied said has curbed after-dark criminal activity significantly.

In addition to the curfew, he said, "We try to be out there and be seen. You can't go very far without seeing police."

On Wednesday, a drizzle fell from the overcast sky. An occasional car parked and overlooked the water but, other than police and other workers, the island was mostly vacant.

Avoiding the rain, more than 20 Junior Police Cadet Program members in various colored shirts talk and laugh, the echo reverberating from the concrete foundation.

Lionel Jackson-Gilbert, a counselor with the Junior Police Cadet Program, said the members he oversees watch over a section of the park and supervise kids at the playground.

Jackson-Gilbert, born and raised in Detroit, said Belle Isle's a safe place. And then he paused: "In the daytime."

Jackson-Gilbert said he joined the sometimes raucous gathering along "The Strip" — what police call "The Strand"— in his youth.

He said there wasn't any specific notable activity that occurred there, but it could get out of hand when the gatherings grew too large.

On the other end of the island dozens of police — active and retired — gather for a retirement party with the smoke of meats wafting throughout the gazebo.

Tony Quarles Sr. 63, a Detroit police officer from 1972 to 1998 in the 7th Precinct, said Bell Isle was the assignment everyone wanted.

Officers with the most seniority usually got it, Quarles said.

"There wasn't really much to do but ride around and make sure everyone was obeying the law, not parking where they shouldn't, not having big open fires," he said. "People out here are friendly, they're drinking and having a good time, compared to the shootings and family problems on the other side.

"People who don't live in Detroit give Belle Isle a bad wrap, because it's Detroit, 'murder capitol of the world."

Both Nied and Quarles support charging to come to the park. They hope the revenue would help the city restore some of Belle Isle's lost majesty.

They reminisced about the zoo, aquarium, horses and buggies, ponies, bike rentals, canoes, the restaurant, the now-overgrown golf course and numerous other amenities that no longer exist on Belle Isle.

The proposed fee, $10 a year, neither man felt would be too burdensome.

"Charge just like they do at the other parks," Quarles said. "They say, 'Well, this is the only park that's left for the poor people.'

"Well the poor people get enough bottles together and do other stuff; they can do the same for this park."

Nied said if visitors can afford a car with "thousands of dollars in rims," they can afford a $10 park pass.

"This is an absolute jewel, they've got that part right," Nied said. "But they're keeping it in the tool chest and they're letting it get very tarnished.

"This park has done better than the rest of the city because there was less stuff to break; it's hard to break a tree" but "we're not getting nearly the value out of it we could."