Detroit records fewest homicides since 1966, but 'we've got a lot of work to do'
Detroit recorded 252 homicides in 2023 — it's the city's fewest since 1966, when there were 232 homicides in Detroit, the city announced Wednesday in a two-hour news conference with numerous federal, state, and city law enforcement agencies and community leaders.
That homicide total is an 18% drop from last year, when the city recorded 309 homicides. That's 57 fewer Detroiters killed, Detroit Police Chief James White and Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan emphasized Wednesday.
"These are bodies. These are people. These are lives. This is trauma that didn't happen," White said.
"But we're certainly not patting ourselves on the back — I think we all agree that it is entirely too violent in our communities ... we've got a lot of work to do. This is not a victory celebration. This is really doubling down on the work."
While the total number of people killed was the lowest since 1966, today's homicide rate per capita is much higher than it was then. The city's population was 2.5 times larger in 1966.
An estimated 620,376 people live in Detroit, according to 2022 U.S. Census data. The homicide rate in 2023 was about 41 homicides per 100,000 residents. In 1966, when 1.58 million people lived in Detroit, the rate was roughly 15 homicides per 100,000 residents.
Still, White said in his 28 years with the Detroit Police Department, and the two-and-a-half years he's served as chief, he's never been more proud.
Larcenies up, carjackings down
Overall, violent crime in Detroit decreased 0.6% in 2023 (assaults increased by about 1%), but property offenses rose 4.6% due to an 11% increase in larcenies, according to Detroit police data. There were about 16% fewer nonfatal shootings in 2023, according to the data — that's 804 nonfatal shootings in 2023 compared to 955 the year prior.
Carjackings in Detroit saw the greatest decrease in 2023, at 33.5%.
The progress in 2023 was a collective effort emphasized by White and other leaders in law enforcement, including U.S. Attorney Dawn Ison and community leaders like Quincy Smith of Ceasefire and Alia Harvey-Quinn of Force Detroit.
"If we just had access to resources, right? Access to opportunities, right? Maybe we can really start to turn this thing around. And that's what's been happening, but we have to continue," Smith said.
"Flood the streets with opportunity. Flood the streets with resources. Flood the streets with job opportunities."
Local, federal law enforcement initiatives
The city began celebrating the drop in homicides, described as historic, in early December. Last month, and again on Wednesday, law enforcement agencies touted increased funding and numerous partnerships and initiatives they say have driven homicide numbers to decline.
Those partnerships include:
The "One Detroit" partnership with local and federal law enforcement and Detroit community leaders focused on combatting and preventing violent crime in Detroit's most violent neighborhoods, specifically targeting the 8th precinct on the west side and the 9th precinct on the east side. The initiative was announced in April 2023.
The city's "ShotStoppers" community violence intervention program, launched in the summer of 2023, which provided funding to six grassroots organizations in Detroit in an effort to reduce gun violence in the city's most violent neighborhood.
Another coalition between federal and local law enforcement and community leaders targeting a COVID-19 backlog of felony gun cases in Wayne County Circuit and 36th District courts.
Summer enforcement strategies implemented by Detroit police, which included more officers downtown, crowd control strategies and cracking down on curfews for minors.
“We all share the same goal, and that is achieving peace in the communities and neighborhoods in the city of Detroit," Ison said.
"What we saw this year was all of us taking a part in that.”
Ison said in the 8th and 9th precincts, where the OneDetroit partnership is focused and has assigned federal prosecutors, homicides have decreased 17%, nonfatal shootings decreased 18% and carjackings decreased 63%.
More than 160 people were charged federally in 2023 in those precincts, including members of the Vice Lords gang, Ison said. There were over 1,750 felony arrests made, over 450 search warrants executed, and over 1,250 guns taken from the streets, Ison said.
Partnerships with the courts and law enforcement have cut the felony gun case backlog by 80% over the last two years, from 2,098 in October 2021 to 426 in December 2023, according to the city.
Detroit Deputy Mayor Todd Bettison said that results so far from the city's "ShotStopper" program have been promising: three community violence intervention, or CVI, organizations out of six that were selected to receive federal funding have seen 50% reductions in shootings in their neighborhoods, he said. Force Detroit is one of those organizations.
"There's a quote that says ... 'the child that doesn't experience the love of the village will burn it down to feel its warmth.' And CVI is an opportunity to feel that warmth," said Harvey-Quinn of Force Detroit.
"We partner with people in the community who are driving violence, and help them reimagine their lives."
Andrea Sahouri covers criminal justice for the Detroit Free Press. She can be contacted at 313-264-0442 or asahouri@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit records fewest homicides since 1966, but rates remain high
