DETROIT (WXYZ) — Violent crime in the city of Detroit saw another significant drop in 2024, according to the latest statistics released by the police department on Friday afternoon.
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, Interim Police Chief Todd Bettison and many others gathered to announce the statistics.
Hear more from Bettison and Duggan in the video below:
According to the Detroit Police Department, homicides dropped 19% in 2024 with 203 homicides, down from 252 in 2023.
Duggan said that when he was Wayne County prosecutor in 2002, he remembered celebrating when they got under 400 homicides.
"In Detroit, we’re seeing something extraordinary," Duggan said. "We have not seen reductions of this nature before."
Nonfatal shootings in the city also dropped 25% from 804 in 2023 to 606 in 2024, and carjackings dropped 15% from 167 to 142.
"The change in this community in just a few years has been very special," Duggan said.
"We have to do it again in 2025," Bettison added.
In all, total violent offenses dropped more than 7% from 2023 and property offenses dropped 3%. Property offenses include burglaries, larcenies and motor vehicle thefts.
"These aren’t numbers. These are real people, mostly young people in our community," Duggan said.
However, Duggan said that there is still more work be done, highlighting the work Boston did with only 24 homicides in 2024.
He also spoke about the crime on the freeways, calling them "zones of danger" and said people have moved from the streets — where there are cameras — to the freeways.
He said they are putting up 450 freeway cameras and license plate readers by the end of the year.
Both Bettison and Duggan highlighted the importance of the community violence intervention teams and the partnerships with other agencies throughout metro Detroit including with sheriff's offices and with the U.S. attorney's office.
The partnership – called One Detroit – targets areas that have the highest rate of gun crimes. Since 2022, the program has led to more than 6,200 guns recovered, 4,753 casings entered into the National Integrated Ballistics Information Network, 600 search warrants served and more.
"Detroit is now a national model for how to reduce violent crime," U.S. Attorney Dawn Isom said during the press conference.
The community groups working with the city are also seeing results.
“Let’s just be honest: it was a lot of scrutiny about this work early on,” said Ray Winans whose community violence intervention group Detroit Friends & Family posted an 83% drop violent crime in neighborhoods on the city’s east side. “So I can’t imagine being a mayor or a police chief putting your neck on the line for the CVI groups while you’re getting scrutiny, but we see the results.”
Several groups in the community have stepped up to help keep numbers lower.
“These reductions are happening because individuals want more for their life, but it hasn’t been available and they haven’t had access,” Dujuan “Zoe” Kennedy of FORCE Detroit said. “But once you give people access and an alternative, they take it.”
Residents like Duane Landrum Sr. say they feel the city is safer than it did five to 20 years ago.
"I do feel a lot safer now because back then, people were getting slaughtered, people were getting robbed on a regular basis. If you called the police, they might not show up," Landrum said.
Residents have seen a difference in recent years in how the city has worked together.
“The energy in our city is different. That’s because we're all coming together to collectively try to think to make it better,” DeAngelo Hall said.
Though there is still work to be done, Detroiters overall feel that violent crime has decreased.
“Yeah, I feel a little safer,” Eric Wilmer said. “My main thing is about a lot of kids missing. That’s my main thing. But as far as myself, yeah I feel safer maneuvering through the city.”
— 7 News Detroit reporter Randy Wimbley contributed to this report.
