Detroit records lowest number of homicides in nearly 60 years
Corey Williams | The Associated Press | Posted: January 6, 2025 12:15 PM | Last Updated: January 7
City ended last year with 203 homicides — down 49 from the year before
Homicides in Detroit have dropped to levels not seen since before the mid-1960s, according to preliminary year-end statistics released by the Michigan border city.
The city is part of a national trend of declining rates of overall violent crime across the U.S.
Detroit ended 2024 with about 203 homicides — down 49 from the year before and the fewest in the city since 188 were committed in 1965, said Mayor Mike Duggan.
Nonfatal shootings, assaults, carjackings and other violent crime also continue to drop across the city.
"We have numbers that are nothing short of remarkable," Duggan said.
"I was the [Wayne County] prosecutor in 2002 and I remember the Detroit police celebrating that we got under 400 homicides for the first time and they said, 'We never thought we'd see that number.' And a few years back I was the mayor and we got under 300 homicides."
Detroit, which has a population of about 633,000 residents, reported 309 homicides in 2022. There also were 308 homicides in 2021. The city had 261 homicides in 2018, the fewest since 1966 when there were 214 homicides.
The population of Detroit, however, is about 40 per cent of the 1966 total, as the city saw its population hollowed out by migration to the suburbs and economic decline. The homicide rate in 1966 represented about 15 killings for every 100,000 residents, according to the Detroit Free Press, compared to 41 for every 100,000 residents in 2023.
Nonfatal shootings in Detroit dropped from 804 in 2023 to 606 last year.
"The change in this community in just a few years has been very special," Duggan said of the fewer homicides and shootings.
"These aren't numbers. These are real people, mostly young people in our community."
Decreases have been across the board. Carjackings dipped from 167 in 2023 to 142 last year. Sexual assaults also were down and 184 fewer robberies were reported last year compared to 2023. Burglaries, larcenies and motor vehicle theft also dropped.
Duggan credited the city's partnerships with other local and state law enforcement and federal agencies.
He also credited programs like ShotStoppers which provides federal funds to groups in Detroit working to cut down the numbers of homicides and shootings. Reductions of 83 percent, 73 per cent and 61 per cent in some of the city's most violent areas were reported last month.
ShotStoppers kicked off in 2023 and empowers activists and residents to use their own strategies to prevent violence. Those strategies include teaching young people to think critically, improving training opportunities for adults, drug prevention and blight removal.
Detroit also has been hiring more police officers, putting 340 more on city streets over the past two years.
Overall violent crime in the United States declined by an estimated 3 per cent in 2023 from the year before, according to an FBI report released in September. Nationally, murders and non-negligent manslaughter dropped nearly 12 per cent, though the numbers spiked in 2020, the first year of the pandemic.