Detroit's Belle Isle officially becomes a state park on Monday, Feb. 10.

DETROIT, MI -- A small, grey sedan was crossed the MacArthur Bridge on its way off Detroit's Belle Isle last week. A shiny, black Department of Natural Resources SUV drove up behind. The oscillating lights flipped on.

The DNR officer stopped the motorist because his license plate tags had expired. Further investigation revealed he had a suspended driver's license. The man was ticketed; a flatbed wrecker came to impound his car.

Belle Isle is no longer a Detroit-run park. On Feb. 10 it officially transferred to the state's jurisdiction and with that came a change to the island police force. Once patrolled by the Detroit Police Department -- a Belle Isle assignment considered one of the force's more cushy jobs -- DNR officers and state police have now assumed the duty.

There is already a visibly increased police presence. There are two DNR vehicles patrolling the island around the clock, a blockade and guard shack at the entrance between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. when the park is closed and state police patrols working from a mobile command center trailer near the Detroit Yacht Club.

Rules on the island -- speeding, registration, open alcohol, noise and littering, infractions sometimes overlooked in the past -- will be strictly enforced, policing officials for both agencies say.

Last week, the old 1893-built Detroit Police Headquarters with horse stalls stood silent and empty. No Detroit police cruisers were parked in the gravel lot. The Belle Isle station was the location of the first radio police dispatch in the U.S. Officials have not determined its future, but DNR officials said there is discussion that it could become a visitor center or administration office.

The change has some of Detroit's 83 percent black population, including Rev. Charles Williams II, pastor of Historic King Solomon Baptist Church and

president of the National Action Network of Michigan, are concerned the new predominantly white police, unfamiliar with Detroit, will profile them as thugs and criminals.

Williams wrote an editorial about his concerns in

for Huffington Post entitled, "

Detroit's Belle Isle Is a State Park and Barney Fife is Securing The Perimeter." Barney Fife is the fictional dim-witted deputy sheriff on the "Andy Griffith Show" played by comedian Don Knotts in the 1960s.

Williams writes:

"So call me paranoid, but all I can see is Barney Fife shaking in his boots, addressing a group of brothers who look like me, and something happens that will certainly be unfortunate for everybody. So Barney Fife, the National Action Network will be watching, and the stories of those who are terrorized will be told.

Of 42 DNR conservation officers who will share patrol duties on Belle Isle, 35, or 83 percent, are white. There is an Asian and six black conservation officers. About 77 percent, 93 of 121 state troopers assigned to the Metro Detroit Post who will take turns patrolling Belle Isle, are white. Nearly 20 percent, 24, are black, according to statistics provided by state police spokeswoman Tiffany Brown.

Detroit police representatives said the department's racial breakdown is not immediately available and the data is not internally tracked.

Eric Thomas, a 26-year-old Detroit resident, said DNR police may not understand life in Detroit.

"

It's not their community," said Thomas, 26, who is black. "People from suburban places don't understand the inherent differences of living in, say, the ghetto, so if you see a guy who looks like a criminal, who's really just dressed like everybody from his neighborhood, you target him.

"You can't help yourself. He looks like a criminal to you, and so that's all of us. I have braids too. I'm just lucky I'm wearing a blazer."

Thomas expects the police changes to alter the faces of the visitors to the island.

"Belle Isle got entirely too ridiculous because there were no laws," said Thomas. "It's going to be nicer, but the people who have historically gone there are not going to have the same kind of access.

"As people encroach, we just recede; we're used to losing."

Officials for both the DNR and state police say they hope to create a fair, orderly and family-friendly environment on the island.

"

Our troopers will be professional, but can be expected to enforce the law," Brown said to MLive Detroit in an email. "We have reached out to Rev. Charles E. Williams II based on his concerns to meet with him and discuss our role in patrolling Belle Isle.

"As you may be aware, we have been working to recruit a diverse pool of applicants for our trooper recruit schools, as we would like to have a police force that is reflective of the communities we serve."

Both the DNR and state police recruits are required to undergo diversity training.

DNR spokesman Ed Golder said the

goal is to treat everyone with courtesy and respect while upholding the law, something the agency has been successful in doing at other culturally diverse state parks. He used Warren Dunes Park on Lake Michigan, which draws a large and diverse crowd from Chicago, as an example.

"We make about 350,000 contacts across the state each year," said

Golder.

"25,000 could have resulted in and enforcement action and only about 7,500 of those do we issue a ticket or make an arrest.

"We do community policing."

Lori Feret, who gives historical tours of the island, says the Detroit police force on the island has until now been a mix of both black and white officers, but the increased assets, not the pigment of their skin, is the reason she welcomes state policing.

Feret said she'll miss her relationships with the Detroit police officers on Belle Isle but they were often too short-staffed to adequately enforce rules.