Flint Town

..... a decimated and demoralized Flint Michigan Police force struggling to cope with violent crime after the city's downward spiral into an epidemic of record-high murder rates.

The opening shows scenes of Flint as it was during the boom years and which began to crumble in the late 70's following the closing of the Chevrolet and Buick factories, two of GM's biggest plants.

At one time, Flint had the highest per capita income of blue collar workers in America. I know, because I lived and worked there for a while during its boom years. Businesses flourished and the nightlife scene, a sure indicator of disposable income, was New Year's Eve virtually every night.

The factory closings led to massive unemployment which in turn bred the violent and virtually uncontrollable crime rate. Neither City Hall nor the State Government succeeded in finding secondary industries to replace GM's closed plants. The drug industry boomed.

Due to the economic crash, the Police force shrunk from a high of over five hundred officers down to one hundred or so due to City Hall mismanagement, graft, incompetence and the misappropriation of the city finances.

The documentary reveals the problems and frustrations of the skeleton police force through the eyes of its Chief and various police officers who patrol streets of boarded up, condemned houses in poverty stricken, drug infested neighborhoods whose poorly educated residents seem condemned to never escape their toxic environment.

It's well done and worth watching.