A recent study shows crime in Saginaw dropped apparently in tandem with a drop in blight.
Researchers said since 900 vacant home were demolished, serious crimes, like homicide and arson dropped 80 percent in Saginaw and in neighboring communities.
Andrew Miller is a Professor of Geography at Saginaw Valley State University. He said after the demolitions, serious crimes dropped 80 percent, which is more than he predicted it would.
“You have a cost of 11 million dollars for these demolitions and crime then decreases. Well, what does that do to the real estate value of these homes? I’m almost certain that you’re going to find that there has been a net economic gain due to the gains made here on these types of demolitions and community policing investments”.
Miller said up until this point fighting crime in Saginaw had been like playing “Whack a mole”. When one crime hot spot was extinguished another would pop up somewhere else.
He said after the demolitions, that wasn't the case.
“Its one of those positive things that we can point out about what’s going right in the city of Saginaw and unfortunately, when’s the last time Saginaw got really great news on the front of crime? All of that credit deserves to go to the police agencies. I’m just glad I’m here to be able to prove it”.