VIDEO: Royal Oak Safe Neighborhoods Community Dialogue

About 200 members of the community attended the firstat last Wednesday evening to listen, learn and ask questions of public safety officials and community leaders, including Royal Oak Police Chief Chief Corrigan O'Donohue.

In the chief's 13-minute PowerPoint presentation, O'Donohue touched on police staffing levels, crime trends, and the city's newest tool to map crime.

Here are some of the highlights of O'Donohue's remarks.

Police staffing

"Royal Oak is a very safe city," the chief said. That's the good news. The bad news is the Royal Oak Police Department is significantly understaffed.

"We're at critical levels with only 66 sworn officers," O'Donohue said. Ten years ago the department had 102 sworn officers.

"The men and women of the Royal Oak Police Department do an incredible job, but it is unsustainable," O'Donohue told the audience. The chief pointed to the detective bureau, which he said is burned out and could use help. The chief said 79 sworn officers is the bare minimum needed for the department to be effective.

Crime is dropping

O'Donohue presented a series of statistics that show crime is down in Royal Oak over the past decade.

You can view detailed crime statistics by clicking on chief's PowerPoint presentation.

Crime-mapping tool

A new tool allows Royal Oak residents to see what is occurring in their neighborhoods and notify the police department of any suspicious activities.

Citizens can visit crimemapping.com to use the tool and sign up to receive crime alerts.