WYOMING, Mich. — The city of Wyoming addressed the latest string of violence in the city. Police are upping patrols along 54th street, where one person was shot and two other people were stabbed in recent weeks.
The city also looks to approach the issue long term. As police continue to investigate recent crimes, public safety is its top priority.
The city is asking voters to increase the income tax, allowing them to hire more police and firefighters.
"We really want to maintain visibility in the community," Wyoming Director of Public Safety Kim Koster told FOX 17.
In recent weeks, Wyoming police have answered the call to a deadly shooting at a Walmart parking lot, homicide at a home, an attempted carjacking, and a random double stabbing inside a Meijer.
"The events that happened this last week, you know, it just so happened they're back-to-back. But we don't see a trend there," Wyoming City Manager Curtis Holt said.
The city's current police force consists of 93 officers. A May ballot proposal is looking to increase that number.
"What we want to add the data-driven police force, the crime analysts and the officers, we're hoping we can do more proactive policing and stop this before it happens," he added.
The plan to get there is through income tax.
It's set up as a 1% increase on residents and businesses and up to 0.5% on non-residents who work in the city of Wyoming.
To help offset that increase, people can also vote on lowering their property tax millage by more than half.
The city says a portion of this money will hire 13 additional officers and one data analyst.
"We're going to have an afternoon community policing unit. And so we're gonna have officers out, really solving some of the issues that we have in neighborhoods and at businesses," she said.
On Tuesday, the city of Wyoming held a public meeting at the Godwin Heights High School auditorium, where a handful of people showed up.
It was the municipality's fifth public meeting of the year, and they say it's important the community is involved in what's going on as everyone works to keep Wyoming safe.
"If you live in the city of Wyoming or any city for that matter, you see feeling touches every day. If you want to have an impact on what's happening in your life, you become involved with your local government," Holt said.
If voters give their approval, the city plans to hire 27 additional firefighters.
The next public meeting is on March 24 at city hall.
As for the recent instances of crime, police say none of them were related.
Officials have people in custody for all the instances except the carjacking, and in that case, they're looking for two suspects.
