Detroit Police Chief James White touts lower crime to start 2022, focusing on each precinct's needs

DETROIT (FOX 2) - Detroit Police Chief James White has been the head of the state's largest police force for almost seven months and is bringing his unique background and knowledge to help evaluate crime and ways to stop it.

White is touting a new data-driven and ‘empirically-based’ evaluation of crime which is tailored to each precinct.  

Across the nation, and in virtually every major city, violent crimes went up during the pandemic. The FBI reports that homicides in the U.S. rose about 30% in 2020 compared to the year prior. 

While those are states, when it's your family affected, it could be a gut-wrenching trauma that may never truly heal. In Detroit, we’ve seen our fair share of unimaginable tragedy - including a 16-year-old charged with killing 3 people including a little boy. 

"Obviously Caleb is a victim and Caleb's family and having to go on without Caleb - and Caleb's mom. all of us as Detroiters, all of us as parents, all of us as people, this could never be acceptable ever. We should all be wondering what went wrong, what broke, how many different pieces had to break for this 16-year-old to make this type of decision," White said.

White says the reality is that the causes and cures for violent crime are multifactorial and complicated with social, cultural, educational, and economic dimensions colliding. There are approximately 2,200 Detroit Police Officers spread over 139 square miles. White said the officers on the force work hard every day.  

"We ask a lot of the police and we have a tremendous responsibility that we take very seriously, that I take very seriously. We ask a lot of the police and I'm fortunate, I like to say I'm blessed, I’ve got the best and hardest working men and women in the country," White said.

Fox 2 is the first to tell you the chief has new crime numbers. Compared to the same time last year, Detroit has seen a 21% reduction in homicides and a 22% reduction in non-fatal shootings.

White brought a 5-point plan with him into the position and has now expanded that into a full-fledged crime fighting plan. It's data-based and takes into account the unique challenges that each precinct faces. So the department is focusing on community engagement and outreach, as well as recruiting events and increasing visibility with officers on the street.

"Each precinct is like its own little city. It has its own unique issues. Some precincts have a speeding problem, some precincts have a drifting problem, some precincts have a breaking and entering in businesses problem," White said. "Foot beats in the neighborhoods. Old school foot beats - I love them."

White says he was previously given 4,000 hours of overtime to handle both calls for service but also devote resources to issues like drag racing and traffic enforcement.  

"I think our community has an absolute right to use its neighborhood and to sit on the front porch and to not be worried about your children to be run over by someone who uses our city blocks as a drag way," 

Another area of focus is crowd control. The department is using police towers to overlook large crowds and is offering to loan out metal detectors at outdoor events, to keep guns out.

"We’re not looking to make a gun arrest. We’re looking to have a tool available for our community to say ‘we don’t want you to bring your weapons into our event.' If you see the metal detector and you decide you don't want to attend the event because of the metal detector, turn around and go home." 

Another issue is noise. White said they want people to keep the decibels down after leaving the club.

"We’re asking folks when the party ends, it’s gotta end. If the club closes at 2, we're going to be having conversations at 1 to start to turn that music down a little bit. Then progressively turn that music down and at 2 o'clock when the club ends, the club is closed. The party doesn’t start outside the club - it’s over."

According to the chief, the real-time crime center is key to his overall strategy.

"It’s my hope that people feel all involved and that they feel this is one city, one Detroit, and that we're all together to push down crime in our community and that they feel comfortable reporting crime. That’s super important,"

The chief also plans to expand Project Green Light program.

Coming in the next few days, we'll discuss the 23% reduction in violent crime overall at some 800 green light locations. We also discuss the civil rights implications of surveillance technology and facial recognition in Detroit.