Crime Watch: Pride flag theft being reported throughout the city

Residents and business owners have been reporting thefts of their pride flags ever since the city council banned the flags from being displayed on public property.

By Charles Sercombe
The controversy over whether to display a pride flag on public property has apparently spurred a rash of thefts of private pride flags in town.
Former Mayor Karen Majewski had three pride flags torn down from her vintage clothing store Tekla on Jos. Campau.
Former Councilmember Catrina Stackpoole also had a few flags stolen from her house on St. Aubin.
Other residents throughout the city have reported similar thefts.
A couple who own a building on Caniff report several of their pride flags were stolen, and in one security camera recording they have, men from a mosque down the street are seen “high-fiving” the suspect. That resident declined to be identified, or to comment.
Hamtramck Police Chief Anne Moise told The Review that several juvenile suspects have been identified in recent pride flag thefts, and one automobile connected to a suspect was impounded.
Moise said detectives are now “working through the cases,” and that “once I have more information on follow-up, I can let you know.”
The pride flag issue has become a deep dividing point in the community. The division has pitted the conservative Muslim population in the city against liberal progressives.
It’s a cultural divide that doesn’t seem to be one that can be bridged – atleast, not any time soon.
Hamtramck’s all-male, all-Muslim city council, including the mayor, have vowed to crack down on the thefts. City Manager Max Garbarino said the matter is a “high priority.”
But some in the community are blaming city officials for inflaming this rash of flag thefts on their banning of the display of a pride flag on city property.
Phillip Kwik, a former city councilmember, has been an outspoken critic of the council and mayor on this, and other, issues.
“The vandalism against the pride flag — and the verbal abuse, physical intimidation, and death threats, against members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities and their allies in town — are not done in a vacuum,” Kwik told The Review.
“They are the direct result of an environment of hate created by the city council and mayor of this city. The vandals and petty thugs harassing the LGBT community are taking their cues from the mayor and council’s hateful rhetoric at their Tuesday meetings. … The mayor and council are responsible for the hatred they have unleashed. They need to stop it.”
In the meantime, there is a Facebook page, “Hamtramck LGBTQ Alliance” that is collecting information about incidents of harassments, threats and property damage connected with anti-LGBTQ matters.
Posted August 4, 2023