Police Chief Alvern Lock Asks for More Volunteers for Halloween, Devil’s Night

With Devil’s Night on Sunday, the city is once again asking for volunteers to patrol the streets to cut down on potential arsons.

City officials say there will be 50 volunteers working at the police ministations throughout the city and are asking for as many volunteers as possible to patrol their communities.

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There’s no shortage of vacant homes for arsonists to pick on with an estimated 10,000 in the city.

Lock said there will be an additional four or five police squad cars over the weekend. He would not say how many additional firefighters were working, but said the fire department will be aided by out-of-county fire departments.

Devil’s Night in Flint has been hit or miss in the last five years with as little as five (2009) to as many as 15 (2008). There were eight fires last year. The Devil’s Night arson numbers peaked in 1994 with 200 fires.

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Last year, the city set a record in arsons, but Devil’s Night itself was relatively quiet. The night after, however, saw 11 fires on Halloween night and 27 for the entire weekend.

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While many patrol the streets or man the ministations, some people are trying to board up vacant homes to discourage fire bugs.

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