Several times he called 911 for help, whispering to avoid detection. He even tried the Northwestern District police station directly, but said he was told officers weren’t available because they were in the middle of a shift change.
“I’m paying my taxes, I’m not behind,” Dixon, 39, who lives on Fenmore near McNichols and the Southfield Freeway, said Monday. “I was hoping the police would show up.”
Dixon returned home from work Feb. 26 after his security company told him that someone had broken in.
When Dixon arrived, police were not yet there and it appeared the burglars were gone. As he went upstairs, however, Dixon said he heard breaking glass on the lower level. He holed up in his bedroom and called police for help — with no success.
Scared, Dixon said he eventually decided to call Detroit City Councilwoman JoAnn Watson. “I told her she was my last resort,” he said.
Watson said she called Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings and the mayor’s office directly to get police to respond. Jewelry and his daughter’s piggy bank were among the items taken, he said. The suspects have not been caught.
City Council members were clearly upset Monday when Dixon related to them what had happened. Watson said the situation is unacceptable and is another sign of problems caused by the 2005 consolidation of the city’s 12 police precincts into six.
“Clearly, something’s broken,” she said.
Deputy Police Chief Leon Moore of the Police Department’s Northwest District told the council Dixon should never have been put in that situation and apologized. Moore said the initial delay occurred because the patrol car was diverted to another call.
