An early afternoon police e-mail alert told Grosse Pointe Farms residents about an armed mugging Thursday. Online comments about the crime tell another story that also unsettles some people.
Journalist Nancy Nall Derringer of Grosse Pointe Woods jumped into an edgy Facebook thread by noting that one comment used "web code for the color black. HAW HAW. Good one, racists!"
She was reacting to Brian Carrick of Grosse Pointe, who had written: "Watch out for #000000s, they will rob you." In a separate post, he said: "No description needed.We already know."
local Patch's Facebook page, Allison D'jane of Grosse Pointe Park says:
"The police HAVE to make it impossible for these 'people' to wander into GP more than a few feet, and the community HAS to be vigilant and report every single suspicious person or thing they see."
Tom Szkola of Saint Clair Shores chimes in at that same social media thread with nostalgia for the stop-and-frisk era of profiling:
"I grew up in the area and remember when someone didn't fit in they were stopped. For some reason that doesn't happen anymore."
Another Patch reader, using the screen name "GP For Life," posts at its site:
"Mack was never a magical line. It was a border patrolled by dedicated people who investigated everything and knocked heads. Mack is the Fulda Gap [between the former East Germany and West Germany] which must be held in order to preserve our way of life."
Also cloaked by anonymity, 'KB' injects this at Grosse Pointe Patch:
"I wonder if they stopped at McDonalds for a McRib on their way out of GPF?"
Back at the lengthy Facebook thread, Geoff Breiden tried to turn down the heat:
Calm down everyone. Let the police handle it and come down from the ledge. I've lived here all of my life, and these things will happen from time to time. Our law enforcement can deal with it.
-- A.S.
