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From patrol cars to playgrounds: How a GR detective changed Grandville Avenue

How ELNC and other neighborhood programs transformed a community.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich — One Grand Rapids detective's work has been crucial in the transformation of neighborhood on the city's southwest side. 

"I worked Grandville Avenue for about 14 years," said Grand Rapids Police Detective Susan Clare. "I think the best way to describe it is a miniature gang turf war. With that comes violence and the biggest thing is to get known."

But, the harder Clare worked to establish relationships with the residents she served, the easier her job got. 

"Nobody likes to snitch down in that neighborhood," said Clare. "So it took a long time of building rapport with people down there to even get them to make phone calls to us, let alone be seen even talking to us."

Clare worked alongside other officers to clean up the area that others often dismissed. 

"We have done everything we can to make this a neighborhood that you'd be proud to call home," said Clare.

She's spent the last 25 years working for GRPD, and she says it keeps getting better. 

"Nobody is in it for the money, because there's no money in it," Clare said. Instead, she said it's about being a part of shifts in the places she serves. 

As her patrol duties have lightened, Clare's freed up more time to do the things she's always dreamed of doing. Combining her love for serving and protecting with education. 

"I was one of those odd kids who absolutely loved everything about school," said the detective. 

"I kind of fell in love with stopping into the schools just at random."

As often as she can, Clare stops in the Early Learning Center on Vries Street SW and reads to the students. 

"It's like a second home to me down there," Clare said.

"There was a time in that neighborhood where parents walked their kids to school to make sure the kids were safe," she said.  "Now they walk them to school because they're excited to get their child in the school and educated."

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