Sheriff’s Data Show Since $1.2M Grant to Supreme Felons, Inc for “Violence Interruption,” Crime is Up in the Group’s “Neighborhood Watch” Areas

by P.D. Lesko

Billy Cole, President and CEO of non-profit Supreme Felons, Inc. doesn’t want to talk about the rising crimes rates in the areas where his neighborhood watch teams patrol. He doesn’t want to talk about the fact that in Ypsilanti Twp., where his group was supposed to do community violence interruption work, crime is up significantly. County Commissioners promised County residents that Supreme Felons, Inc. would “save lives.” He doesn’t want to release any public records that show how he has spent $1.2 million in public money. The County has released no data on how the $1.2 million given to Supreme Felons, through a grant that expired in January 2025, was used by the group.

In an email, Cole was asked to comment on crime data provided by Washtenaw County Sheriff Alyshia Dyer for Ypsilanti and Ypsilanti Twp., the 48197 and 48198 zip code areas of the County. “In 48197, between 2023 and 2024, violent crime has skyrocketed. In 2024, in 48197 there were 1,191 total verified crimes, 168 violent crimes, 212 domestic violence crimes and 33 firearm offenses. In 2022, in 48197 there were 942 total verified crimes, 108 violent crimes, 168 domestic violence crimes and 18 firearm offenses,” Cole was told.

Cole was then asked, “Why do you think crime is up so sharply in 48197? Why do you think, after two years of your group conducting neighborhood watch, 48197/48198 areas still account for 75 percent of all verified crimes reported by the Sheriff?”

Billy Cole, who pays himself more than $82,000 per year, plus benefits, responded in an email that the questions should be posed to “Mr. Robert Burton-Harris Attorney at Law.” Burton-Harris is representing Supreme Felons, Inc. in a suit filed in the local Circuit Court by the newspaper to obtain public records related to the non-profit’s refusal to release public records that document the non-profit’s use of public money.

Supreme Felons, Inc. was awarded a $1.2 million grant by the Washtenaw County Commissioners in July 2022. Supreme Felons, Inc. President and CEO, Billy Cole, began to submit requisition forms in January 2023 to receive funds to pay staff, including neighborhood watch staff assigned to areas in the 48197 and 48198 zip codes (ypsilanti/Ypsilanti Twp.) Sheriff’s data show that annually over half of all crimes committed in Washtenaw County are committed in those two zip codes. In 2022, for example, the Sheriff’s Data and Information Dashboard showed of the 5,460 verified crimes committed that year, 3,173 crimes were committed just in the 48198 zip code and 942 were committed in the 48197 zip code, 75 percent of the total verified crimes reported in 2022.

in 2023, when Supreme Felons, Inc. was paid $559,000 of its $1.2 million grant, according to County records, the total number of verified crimes dipped slightly to 5,201. In the 48198 zip code the total number of verified crimes reported was 2,615 and in the 48197 zip code the number of crimes reported increased by 27 percent to 1,200. In 2023, 73 percent of all verified crimes reported by the Sheriff were committed in the two areas where the Supreme Felons, Inc. neighborhood watch program was implemented.

In 2024, total verified offenses dropped to 4,254. In the 48198 zip code the Sheriff reported 1,993 verified offenses and in the 48197 zip code 1,191 verified crimes were reported. After two full years and $1.2 million paid to Supreme Felons, Inc. for violence interruption in the high crime zip codes, the percentage of verified crimes in the two Ypsilanti and Ypsilanti Twp. areas as a percentage of the total verified crimes reported by the Sheriff remains 75 percent.

Doug Winters in the attorney for Ypsilanti Twp. When asked about the rampant crime in Ypsilanti Twp., Winters said, “My take on the issue is this: the WCSO does a great job of identifying people who commit crimes. But what happens when these people are taken into custody? Felons get inappropriately low bonds from the Prosecutor and then don’t show up to their hearings. The Prosecutor’s Office refuses to take firearm violence seriously. Then you have the Courts…there is such extensive plea bargaining that goes on over there. This is a failure of the whole system to protect the public.”

New County Sheriff Alyshia Dyer was asked to comment on the sharp rise in crime, including violent crime, in Ypsilanti and Ypsilanti Twp. as per her own publicly-reported crime statistics. She did not reply.