LANSING, Mich — Lansing residents say they are tired of living in fear as gunshots continue to ring out in their neighborhoods, and new data from the Lansing Police Department shows the problem may be getting worse.
In the first 4 months of the year, Lansing police responded to 235 shots fired calls — a slight increase from the 216 calls logged during the same period last year.
Joanne Beam, who lives near Reutter Park, says she hears gunshots far too often.
"Pretty much every weekend, every weekend… it's usually at night but last weekend I heard it during the day."
"It frightens me for our town," Beam said.
Lansing Police Chief Rob Backus says the department released its shots fired numbers as part of a broader commitment to transparency and progress.
"When we release our shots fired number this is about us wanting progress in all areas of gun violence," Backus said.
Backus says the department's response to each shots fired call depends on the nature of the report.
"Just a shots fired call its not supported by back up calls. Most likely that wont be an emergency calls so we would send one officer… when you start getting multiple calls and and people actually saying someone shooting a fireman, that's when you will get multiple response and multiple officers," Backus said.
He added that sending multiple officers to a shots fired call can sometimes mean pulling them away from other duties — and that freeing up officer time could lead to stronger community ties.
"We would love it, instead of responding to shots fired our officers have more free time. The hope would be if officers had more free time they could focus more community police engagement and building that relationship," Backus said.
As the department works to find ways to reduce gun violence, residents like Beam say they are ready for change.
When asked if she wants the gunshots to stop, Beam's answer was simple.
"Yes, yes I do," Beam said.
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