Detroit celebrates city's falling homicide rate, other declining violent crime milestones
DETROIT (FOX 2) - Detroit police kicked off 2026 with a press conference highlighting the city's latest milestone in reducing violent crime over the past year.
Chief Todd Bettison and Mayor Mary Sheffield applauded declines in both violent crime and property crime by approximately 10% from 2025. While non-fatal shootings and carjackings were part of those statistics, the highlight of Wednesday's announcement was Detroit's homicide rate.
For the first time in 60 years, the city's murder rate dropped below 200 cases.
The last time the city was below that benchmark was in 1965 when 188 homicides were recorded. In 2025, there were 165 murders.
"Detroit once again, has seen a drop in every major category of crime, which means fewer families are grieving, fewer lives are disrupted, and more families now can feel safe in their homes, in their communities" Sheffield said.
Partnerships attributed to falling crime
Community Violence Intervention zones were introduced as a neighborhood-based pillar in reducing crime by rooting out causes.
"Just looking at the data, the metrics, you're able to see that homicides and non-fatal shootings dropped 22% in the seven CVI zones in one year," said Bettison.
Two of those zones — led by Team Pursuit and New Era Detroit — saw the largest drops: 60% and 44% respectively.
There has also been more collaboration with Detroit's mental health support groups that are tapped during calls for those struggling with issues.
"We actually have behavioral therapists embedded in our 911 call center," Bettison said. "They're able to triage and oftentimes the response is not necessary and they're able to refer and get individuals the appropriate help that they need."
Much of that works is done with the Detroit Wayne Integrated Health Network, led by the city's former police chief James White.
Project Green Light locations, Shotspotter notifications, and collaboration with federal groups like the ATF to use the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network, which uses data to identify firearms used in crimes.
By the numbers:
According to data provided during Wednesday's press conference:
- Homicides dropped by 18.7% from 2024 to 2025.
- Non-fatal shootings dropped 26.4% from 2024 to 2025
- Carjackings dropped 45.8% from 2024 to 2025
- Sexual assaults dropped 13.7% from 2024 to 2025
Police said they had made 253 arrests due to alerts from ShotSpotter and 6,235 guns recovered.
Another 2,932 investigative leads were created with the help of NIBIN, which is used by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.
The Source: A press conference with Detroit police, Detroit's mayor, and other groups were cited for this story.