Detroit touts lowest homicide rate in 50 years, vows further work to quell violence

Law enforcement collaboration getting results in Detroit

The homicide rate isn't the only statistic that's encouraging for Detroit officials looking for ways to reduce crime. A press conference laid out what had else is working

DETROIT (FOX 2) - At the end of a wide-ranging press conference where Detroit police championed both its collaboration with other groups and the results it was getting with falling homicide rates and cutting down on a backlog of court cases, the chief expressed his appreciation for the city.

"Thank you. Thank you for sticking with and staying with the city," he said. "We appreciate it."

The police department recorded its lowest homicide rate since 1966 last year with 252 people killed. It's an 18.4% drop since 2022, bringing the city's murder rate down from the surge in violence that came with the Covid pandemic.

But for Chief James White, the encouraging results came in many other forms. The areas of the city with the highest crime rates saw the steepest declines. The department acquired more money to hire back officers that had left for police departments outside Detroit.

It's ONE Detroit Partnership with U.S. Attorneys office targeted people with criminal backgrounds and gave them options for becoming productive citizens. The Wayne County Circuit Court chief judge ramped up prosecution of felony gun crimes, lowering the number of delayed cases from 4,000 to 500.

White also reported encouraging results out of the city's Criminal Violence Initiative (CVI), which tasked six community groups with using strategies beyond just arrests to lower rates of violence. FORCE Detroit, Detroit Friends and Family, and Detroit Peoples Community recorded a 50% drop in homicides in their areas.

Alia Harvey Quinn, executive director of FORCE Detroit, used an African proverb to explain the CVI's goal: "The child who is not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel its warmth."

"CVI is an opportunity to feel that warmth," Quinn said. "CVI is a public health harm reduction strategy in which we partner with people in the community who are driving violence and help them reimagine their lives."

Partnership getting results

U.S. Attorney Dawn Ison has been one of the faces of the partnership that binds Detroit police with federal law enforcement, the prosecutor's office, and other community groups to stamp down on violence.

The collaboration, she said, had streamlined efforts to prosecute crimes while assisting the proper agency with tracking down criminals.

"It's not your typical task force," she said Wednesday afternoon, citing the team's three pillars of enforcement, prevention, and reentry as the guiding force behind their approach.

Prosecutors were assigned specific precincts and learned of the shooters who were inflicting the majority of crimes. She used Shawn Hickman as an example.

The 24-year-old has since pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of ammunition for a shooting incident on Aug. 16, 2022. According to a press release from the justice department, court records found Detroit police responded to a 911 call of a man being shot. They worked with the FBI to identify Hickman as the shooter.

In a separate case involving Clifford Hussey, who had several convictions and a history of violence, was arrested with a gun. Data on the suspect helped streamline the prosecution of him. He's since been sentenced to 33 months in prison.

Ison also said the team had used the "Al Capone method" of prosecuting "drivers of violence" with other means, including charging 135 people with fraud-related offenses. One gang, the Purple Heart Vets, were charged with unemployment fraud, in addition to their violent crime.

Detroit crime stats:

The violent crime summary from Wednesday's press conference included a 1% overall drop. In assessing the year-end differences between 2022 and 2023, there were declines in homicides, rape, robbery, non-fatal shootings, and carjackings.

However, property crimes rose, with the biggest spike coming from larcenies.

Homicide

2022 - 309 instances
2023 - 252 instances

Sex Assault

2022 - 707 instances
2023 - 669 instances

Aggravated Assault

2022 - 10,399 instances
2023 - 10,427 instances

Robbery

2022 - 1,405 instances
2023 - 1,392 instances

Burglary

2022 - 5,008 instances
2023 - 4,821 instances

Larceny

2022 - 14,083 instances
2023 - 15,681 instances

Motor Vehicle Theft

2022 - 9,525 instances
2023 - 9,421 instances

Non-fatal shootings

2022 - 955 instances
2023 - 804 instances

Carjackings

2022 - 251 instances
2023 - 167 instances

‘Straight to summer deployment’

White also said the department would speed up its deployment of officers, opting instead of elevating its presence throughout the spring and summer, and 'going straight to summer deployment in the spring."

After police observed more people spending time in city parks last year, a likely result from the pandemic waning in many people's lives, as well as an uptick in large-scale events like high-profile concerts, the chief said it made sense to get ahead of the task at hand.

"This year, we're going to have the (NFL) Draft, and we're going to have a number of things that we have to get in front of, and so that deployment which will not impact neighborhood patrols will be much earlier and comprehensive based on what the data tells us," he said.