Detroit is close to recording its fewest homicides in nearly 60 years

Detroit is close to recording its fewest number of yearly homicides in nearly 60 years, according to a gun violence reduction partnership among city, state and county officials who announced the data on Monday.

As of Nov. 30, the city had recorded 228 homicides this year, an 18% drop compared to the 276 homicides during the same time last year. In 2018, Detroit recorded 261 homicides, the city's fewest since 1966, a year prior to the Detroit riot in 1967.

Total nonfatal shootings in the city are down 13% and carjackings are down 36% compared to this time last year, Detroit police data indicates.

“Leadership, teamwork and a commitment to the community were key components of this initiative,” said Wayne County Executive Warren Evans, who took the lead in coordinating efforts among the agencies and the courts. “Our data shows that 50 fewer Detroiters will lose their lives to gun violence in 2023 and 100 fewer will suffer gunshot injuries."

The coordinated effort targeted seven key areas: Reducing felony gun case backlogs in Wayne County Circuit and 36th District courts; increasing staffing for the Wayne County Prosecutor's and Sheriff's offices, as well as the Detroit Police Department; increasing coordination between the Wayne County prosecutor and DPD on shooting and homicide cases; increasing accountability for defendants released on tether to the Wayne County Sheriff's Office; increasing accountability from the Michigan Department of Corrections for those on probation and parole; and the implementation of the FAST unit, a joint fugitive apprehension unit of DPD and the Sheriff's Office, which apprehended nearly 1,000 individuals with outstanding felony warrants this year, prioritizing those wanted for gun crimes.

"The commitment and dedication of all of the stakeholders involved in these efforts have resulted in positive and significant progress," said 36th District Court Chief Judge William McConico, who also was part of this coordinated effort. "Our community has and will continue to benefit by the work that has been done, and I am eager to see how we build upon these impressive outcomes."

In addition to Evans and McConico, the officials who make up the gun violence reduction coalition include Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, Detroit Police Chief James White, Wayne County Sheriff Raphael Washington, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, Wayne County Circuit Court Chief Judge Patricia Fresard and Michigan Department of Corrections Director Heidi Washington.

The coalition was created in 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, when cities nationwide recorded particularly bloody years and court backlogs wreaked havoc within the criminal justice system. It received $2.5 million in state funding in 2021 and $12.5 million in 2023 toward public safety initiatives, members said.

"This is a day that we've been waiting for for a long time," Duggan said at a Monday afternoon press conference. He described the number of children in Detroit who hear gunfire when they go to bed at night, or the number of teenagers who know someone killed by gun violence, as "heartbreaking."

Worthy called the decline in total homicides "unprecedented progress made." And White said this is a moment "we need to really embrace."

While Detroit's total homicides and nonfatal shootings are on the decline, Detroit police data shows some individual precincts still struggle with an uptick in violent crime: Homicides in Detroit's 2nd Precinct on the city's northwest side have increased 17% compared to this time last year; homicides in the 4th Precinct in southwest Detroit increased 44%; and homicides in the 5th Precinct on the east side increased 21%. Nonfatal shootings in the northwest 2nd Precinct and east side 7th Precinct both have increased about 28% so far in 2023.

Detroit’s population has fallen from 1.58 million people in 1966 to an estimated 620,376 in 2022, according to U.S. census data.

Coalition touts reductions in felony gun case backlog and more

One of the key factors helping to drive down violence in the city has been aggressively targeting the backlog in felony gun cases. Felony gun cases pending trial in Wayne County Circuit Court have decreased from 4,000 in January 2022 to 1,330 in November 23, a 67% reduction, according to the coalition.

In 36th District Court, more than 2,000 pretrial felony gun cases were pending in January 2022, according to the coalition. By November 2023, that number had dropped 80% to 415 cases.

Judge Fresard said Monday that the courts came back from the COVID-19 pandemic stronger due to the coalition's efforts.

The coalition also said it believes increased wages for Detroit police officers and Wayne County Sheriff's deputies have helped fill agency vacancies. Also, better coordination and communication between the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office and Detroit police, including bringing back the "community prosecutors" initiative where assistant prosecutors are working inside Detroit's 12th, 2nd, 8th and 9th precincts, have reduced pending homicide warrants by 25%.

And, officials said, they are looking to expand that program to even more precincts in the future.

“This collaboration is unique in that issues are identified, solutions discussed, and these solutions are implemented. It is not just talk, talk, talk,“ Worthy said.

"We have and continue to tackle serious issues — gun violence, lack of resources, backlogs, training, recruitment and retention, police officer no shows, and other system failures that needed fixing. Many of these are longstanding problems that we have been successfully tackling in a very meaningful way."

Andrea Sahouri covers criminal justice for the Detroit Free Press. She can be contacted at 313-264-0442 or asahouri@freepress.com.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit close to fewest homicides in nearly 60 years