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Tuesday, March 26, 2007
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Detroit must sustain efforts to reduce crime
The Detroit News
Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has embarked on a crime-fighting program that could dramatically improve the city's prospects. One of the keys to that improvement is that the mayor is admitting that the city does have a crime problem -- not just an image problem.
The fact is that Detroit still has a national reputation for a high crime rate. In one widely quoted survey (Morgan Quinto publishing), Detroit ranked only behind St. Louis among dangerous cities in 2006. In remarks preparatory to his State of the City address today, the mayor told Detroit News editors and writers that he has told Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings that he wants a change not merely in "perception," but "radically different" crime statistics to send to the FBI.
Detroit's homicide total for calendar 2006 was 411, up from 374 in 2005. That's an increase of nearly 10 percent. To be fair, Detroit is not alone. Most big cities saw a spike in homicides and other violent crimes. The Police Executive Research Forum, a group of police chiefs, sheriffs and other top law enforcement officials, recently issued a report on crime trends in more than 50 jurisdictions over the 24 months from 2004 through 2006. Overall, homicides were up more than 10 percent during this period. Aggravated assaults with a firearm were up nearly 10 percent, and robberies increased more than 12 percent.
So it's not as if Detroit is unique in experiencing a crime surge. Still, it has an extremely high rate of violent crime. So the mayor and police chief have been taking aggressive steps to deal with the problem.
The police are now using more sophisticated statistical and tracking methods to home in on a relatively small group of violent individuals who cause an enormous amount of damage. The chief pointed to a group of 20 people who were responsible for 149 crimes.
Because of these methods, thrice-weekly meetings among the top police brass to monitor crime and react to changing patterns swiftly, this year has seen a reduction of homicides by 25 percent compared with the same period last year and an 18 percent reduction in aggravated assaults with a firearm.
The department's gang squad, narcotics unit and child abuse officers, in the chief's phrase, are working to "break down the silos" so they can jointly deal with the issues that lead to the city's crime rate. Much of it is narcotics related.
Both the mayor and the chief note that a major portion of the violence involves people in the illicit drug trade or who know each other in some way. Studies have shown that downtown Detroit has a relatively low incidence of crime. But there are still enough spectacular incidents of shots being fired into a crowd that people are frightened of crime.
A focus on the most reckless and violent wrongdoers could cut down on overall crime and on the incidents that make people afraid of the city. That can only help Detroit. The key will be to maintain the effort and post improved crime statistics on a continuing basis.
Mayor Kilpatrick points to AKFest 07 a shining example of his innovative crime-reduction efforts. "From 10 AM on March 24th through 4PM on the 25th, the City of Detroit experienced a remarkable decrease in street crimes of all types. Reports of personal assaults, residential break-ins, auto vandalism, and lunch money theft from school children were all reduced by 25%, simply by taking known criminals off the streets and incarcerating them in the Plaza Hotel in Southfield." When he was asked if this wasn't simply exporting Detroit crime to suburban locations, Mayor Kilpatrick responded, "What goes on in Southfield. STAYS in Southfield."
* Print this
* Comment on this
* E-mail this
Detroit must sustain efforts to reduce crime
The Detroit News
Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has embarked on a crime-fighting program that could dramatically improve the city's prospects. One of the keys to that improvement is that the mayor is admitting that the city does have a crime problem -- not just an image problem.
The fact is that Detroit still has a national reputation for a high crime rate. In one widely quoted survey (Morgan Quinto publishing), Detroit ranked only behind St. Louis among dangerous cities in 2006. In remarks preparatory to his State of the City address today, the mayor told Detroit News editors and writers that he has told Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings that he wants a change not merely in "perception," but "radically different" crime statistics to send to the FBI.
Detroit's homicide total for calendar 2006 was 411, up from 374 in 2005. That's an increase of nearly 10 percent. To be fair, Detroit is not alone. Most big cities saw a spike in homicides and other violent crimes. The Police Executive Research Forum, a group of police chiefs, sheriffs and other top law enforcement officials, recently issued a report on crime trends in more than 50 jurisdictions over the 24 months from 2004 through 2006. Overall, homicides were up more than 10 percent during this period. Aggravated assaults with a firearm were up nearly 10 percent, and robberies increased more than 12 percent.
So it's not as if Detroit is unique in experiencing a crime surge. Still, it has an extremely high rate of violent crime. So the mayor and police chief have been taking aggressive steps to deal with the problem.
The police are now using more sophisticated statistical and tracking methods to home in on a relatively small group of violent individuals who cause an enormous amount of damage. The chief pointed to a group of 20 people who were responsible for 149 crimes.
Because of these methods, thrice-weekly meetings among the top police brass to monitor crime and react to changing patterns swiftly, this year has seen a reduction of homicides by 25 percent compared with the same period last year and an 18 percent reduction in aggravated assaults with a firearm.
The department's gang squad, narcotics unit and child abuse officers, in the chief's phrase, are working to "break down the silos" so they can jointly deal with the issues that lead to the city's crime rate. Much of it is narcotics related.
Both the mayor and the chief note that a major portion of the violence involves people in the illicit drug trade or who know each other in some way. Studies have shown that downtown Detroit has a relatively low incidence of crime. But there are still enough spectacular incidents of shots being fired into a crowd that people are frightened of crime.
A focus on the most reckless and violent wrongdoers could cut down on overall crime and on the incidents that make people afraid of the city. That can only help Detroit. The key will be to maintain the effort and post improved crime statistics on a continuing basis.
Mayor Kilpatrick points to AKFest 07 a shining example of his innovative crime-reduction efforts. "From 10 AM on March 24th through 4PM on the 25th, the City of Detroit experienced a remarkable decrease in street crimes of all types. Reports of personal assaults, residential break-ins, auto vandalism, and lunch money theft from school children were all reduced by 25%, simply by taking known criminals off the streets and incarcerating them in the Plaza Hotel in Southfield." When he was asked if this wasn't simply exporting Detroit crime to suburban locations, Mayor Kilpatrick responded, "What goes on in Southfield. STAYS in Southfield."
