Homicides down 14% in Detroit (crimes, neighborhoods, bus)

[SEAandATL]

According to this article in the Free Press, Detroit is about to have the lowest number of homicides in 40 years. As of Monday, the total is 340.

Detroit sees 14% drop in homicides | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press (http://www.freep.com/article/20081230/NEWS01/812300328/1003/NEWS01 - broken link)

[Vision-Quest]

Thats a big improvement

[ocean2026]

Detroit also has less people .. why not be honest Sea and present that - the article did.

They said its the least since 1967 however the population is lower.

"The number is the lowest homicide total since 1967, although the city's population was about 1.5 million then and is about 917,000 now."


One year isn't a trend anyway- with the Detroit economy so bad, criminals can't afford bullets.


Very misleading Sea if not downright dishonest.

[Dexterguy]

Originally Posted by ocean2026

Detroit also has less people .. why not be honest Sea and present that - the article did.

They said its the least since 1967 however the population is lower.

"The number is the lowest homicide total since 1967, although the city's population was about 1.5 million then and is about 917,000 now."


One year isn't a trend anyway- with the Detroit economy so bad, criminals can't afford bullets.


Very misleading Sea if not downright dishonest.

You beat me to it,

I completely agree, this story is very misleading, Detroit's population has not been this low since the 1930's of course the murder rate is going to go down!

[Cliffie]

It's been going down for years, before the exodus started. Even before the previous (Reagan-sponsored exodus) started. I wish people would open their eyes and realize that Detroit is no longer the teenaged shooting gallery it was in the early Eighties.

Please realize also that Detroit has one of the most impoverished, understaffed police departments of any large city in the country. The murder rate is going down despite THAT.

[BurtsBees]

Less people because they keep flooding into the suburbs.

[and the]

Maybe they can't afford bullets with the way the economy has tanked.

[ocean2026]

Cliffe - having an understaffed police dept cuts both ways - maybe some crimes aren't reported correctly. I read just yesterday of a murder in Detroit and when someone tried to report it /or was it confess lol no one would listen so they took a bus trip to Toledo and reported it there.

[dre71]

I agree that the article is a little misleading. The population has to be 800000-820000 now, just drive around you could tell there are alot less people, even talking to business owners most tell me their profits are down 50% or more.

But, less murders is always a good thing(If the murders are really down our police force very corrupt they sometimes lie about the real murder rate, on firejerryo.com they said 2006 had 487 murders not 406 like the city says)

[Dexterguy]

Originally Posted by dre71

I agree that the article is a little misleading. The population has to be 800000-820000 now, just drive around you could tell there are alot less people, even talking to business owners most tell me their profits are down 50% or more.

I know that population is down, but do you really think that it has dropped to 800,000 yet? That is VERY low! It's sad to see how Detroit had become one of the most powerful cities in the country, and now it is not even on the top ten's list anymore.

I agree with our observations though that the cities neighborhoods are really really empty. There are some areas in the city that look like you are in the middle of a meadow with garbage dumped all over the place, it's very strange in a way.