Panel talks about fighting crime in Royal Oak

At the Royal Oak Middle School auditorium an expert panel took public questions on crime.

One question?  "We've had three cars recently stolen out of our residential parking lot at Troy and University streets.  Can we beef up police patrols?"

"We do review every crime report on each shift, so if a crime occurred on a shift, those shift bosses when they're having their lineups with their officers on when the crime occurred, they're reminding their officers, hey, we have this crime occurred or whatever crime we're talking about," said Royal Oak Police Chief Corrigan O'Donohue.

Oakland County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper told Fox 2 the Oakland County child killer case from the seventies is still moving forward.

"As long as there exists that possibility that there is a living suspect, we are going to pursue this.  The task force is in existence because there remains a possibility that there is a living suspect.  We are not a historical society."

The audience was introduced to a high tech attack, seeing how CrimeMapping.com can connect a community and show where crimes have occurred and when.

"So everyone's going a lot faster and doing a lot more with less, and you should go away comfortable knowing that you're not seeing us up here fighting.  When I ask Royal Oak for help or they ask me, what's mine is theirs and theirs is mine and it's no cost.  So, if I send any of this equipment to Royal Oak, there's no cost to the city," said Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard.

"You'll see us at the Dream Cruise, the Downriver cruise, Melvindale fireworks -- Monday I got the opportunity to stand in Hart Plaza with 175 other troopers around this state and help out with the Detroit fireworks as we stood next to the sheriff's office with their 50 or 60 deputies in a regional policing plan, which is something that we're all looking for," said Lieutenant Michael Shaw with the Michigan State Police.

The panel also included Michigan Department of Corrections' Michael Alexander and Russ Marlin.

If you see crime in your neighborhood, call the police or 1-800-SPEAK-UP.