Excessive ticketing of gas stations and liquor stores owners continues to be a problem in Detroit. Once again, business owners are receiving multiple tickets for not having the proper licenses, missing invoices and other suspected violations. 

Sometimes the owners get several tickets for the same offense while in the processes of acquiring licenses through Detroit’s labyrinthine bureaucracies.  

The city’s approach is wrong. The relationship between police and the business community should be framed by cooperation, not confrontation and ticketing. Businesses should fix their violations, but the city should guide the owners into improving their practices and not hold them back with hefty fines. And they shouldn’t ticket them again while they’re in the process of correcting a particular violation.

Violent criminals, including serial rapists, murderers and carjackers, are on the loose in Detroit, yet the police are going after gas stations. There is a problem with priorities. 

Business owners have complained of the demeanor of the police, who address them with an attitude of supremacy. With the high profile incidents of police brutality across the nation and the dwindling trust between citizens and law enforcement agents, it is vital that the police treat everybody with respect. 

The key to making Detroit great again is to make it safe and welcoming. It is counterproductive when the police are rude and condescending to the people they serve.

Police Chief James Craig has held two meetings with gas station owners in the city. In September of 2013, he emphasized the importance of partnerships to make the city safer. 

But his promise to work with businesses seemed hollow when he canceled his appearance at a meeting with various gas station owners last year because of “severe weather conditions” after light rain.

The chief subsequently met with the business owners in October and promised to halt licensing fines. However, the ticketing continued.

Gas station owners and employees have told stories about police ignoring drug dealers outside their businesses, while searching for the slightest violation inside. 

They say they sell loose cigarettes and allow loitering to appease young, misguided customers who could turn violent, not to welcome them. 

“We don’t make money selling ‘loosies’ for 25 cents,” one gas station owner told Craig in 2013. “But if a guy has no money for a pack and I do not sell him a loose cigarette, he will destroy my station. And the police will not come in time to stop him.”

The owner also said employees are too scared to leave their bulletproof “prison” behind the cash register to clean up the gas stations. 

The remedy to those problems is greater police presence and partnership with the community to ensure a safe environment for gas station owners to do the right thing. 

However, business owners deserve their share of the criticism. Times are changing in Detroit. It is no longer an almost lawless place, where business violations are overlooked and swept under the rug.

Gas station owners need to clean up their businesses, get their licenses in order and maximize their efforts to improve the appearance and reputation of their businesses. 

Chief Craig was right when he said a dirty environment is an invitation to crime.

Gas stations need to establish an organization that can speak for all of them and safeguard their interests. 

Employees need to channel their complaints through the proper agencies. If they suspect unfair or illegal treatment by city employees or the police, they should let their superiors know. 

The number to the police community liaison is 313-596-5522. Craig’s email address is Chiefofpolice@dpdhq.ci.detroit.mi.us.

Businesses should be a part of the community where they make money. In a 2014 editorial, we suggested treating customers with greater respect, contributing to the community’s organizations and houses of worships and training employees properly. Hiring people from the neighborhoods would also help. 

Bottom line, the gas stations, residents and police have good intentions and share the same goals. They all want a safer, more prosperous Detroit. To achieve that, they must communicate and join their efforts. They need to perceive each other as allies, not enemies.