The city of Detroit is touting a decline in violent crime — homicides, non-fatal shootings and carjackings — in the first nine months of this year compared to the same time in 2024, with Mayor Mike Duggan calling the reduction in overall crime showing “a change in a culture of accountability.”
The numbers were detailed during a news conference on Oct. 6 at the city’s public safety building downtown, hours after a 14-year-old boy was killed and a 17-year-old boy was seriously hurt during a shooting on the city’s west side. There was no motive provided in that case, which remains under investigation, Police Chief Todd Bettison said.
Nearly two dozen local, state and federal law enforcement officials, members of the local court systems, and community leaders touted the statistics that they say are trending below the 60-year low numbers from 2024.
The figures provided were from Jan. 1 through Sept. 30. They show homicides down 15%, from 155 in 2024 to 132 this year; non-fatal shootings down 22% from 469 in 2024 to 366 this year, and carjackings down 29% from 90 in 2024 to 64 this year.
The numbers from the first three quarters of 2025 are also down significantly from the same time period in 2022 — more than 40% in each category — with carjackings down 88%, from 537 in 2013 to 64 this year.
In 2013, Duggan said, there were “15 carjackings a week.” Now, he said, there are fewer than two.
Bettison said, “We broke the back of carjackings in Detroit. It was carjack city.”
Duggan said the overall crime reduction didn’t “happen in one year. This is a change in a culture of accountability that happens over a period of years.”
City Council President Mary Sheffield said Detroit has seen less crime in the last 12 years and needs to continue the programs that address social issues, providing holistic approach to how violence is addressed in the city.
“One life lost is still one too many,” she said. “We are making this city more safe.”
Contact Christina Hall: chall@freepress.com. Follow her on X: @challreporter.
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