The Detroit City Council must approve the law before it takes effect. Under the law, anyone whose car is intentionally burned in Detroit must visit arson investigators at the city's downtown fire headquarters. It will be a tremendous deterrent once we get the word out. I think it should be challenged. Arsonists like Detroit because of its vast expanses of overgrown lots and sheltered alleys between abandoned buildings.
Detectives estimate that more than half of the cars come from surrounding suburbs.
The problem is so bad that the Detroit Fire Department created a four-man auto arson unit two years ago. But the team is overwhelmed. In the 10 months after it formed, the crew was assigned 3,000 suspected car torchings. Complicating investigations is that not all auto arsons are insurance fraud, investigators say. Some are burned to cover up crimes.