Homicides continue to fall in Detroit as city mirrors national trend on violent crime

DETROIT (AP) — Murders in Detroit continue to tumble as the city recorded its lowest number of criminal homicides since at least the early- to mid-1960s.

For all of 2025, 165 homicides were committed in the Motor City, Police Chief Todd Bettison told reporters Wednesday.

That is 38 fewer than the 203 reported for 2024, which the city said then was the lowest since 188 were committed in 1965.

Detroit had 252 homicides in 2023, 309 homicides in 2022 and 308 homicides in 2021.

“What we’re doing in the city of Detroit is working,” Bettison said. “We will continue investing in prevention, enforcement, technology — everything."

The city also reported Wednesday that other violent crime also was down last year. Nonfatal shootings dropped from 603 in 2024 to 447 in 2025. Carjackings plummeted from 142 to 77 over that period, while robberies dipped from 1,209 to 953. Sexual assaults and auto vehicle thefts also were down.

It is a trend seen in many other U.S. cities. Violent crime in the United States fell 4.5% in 2024, according to an FBI report, which also showed an 8% drop in property crime from the year before.

The FBI statistics released in August showed murder and nonnegligent manslaughter in the U.S. in 2024 fell nearly 15% from a year earlier, continuing a decline that has been seen since a coronavirus pandemic-era crime spike.

New Orleans officials reported this week that violent crime in the Crescent City declined for a third consecutive year in 2025. The crime figures were released less than a week after armed troops arrived in New Orleans, becoming the latest city where President Donald Trump has deployed National Guard members on crime-fighting missions.

Trump has accused a number of large, mostly Democratic-run cities of having runaway crime amid threats of deploying the National Guard.

“I’m just focused on local, what I’m doing," Bettison said when asked Wednesday about Trump's claims. "My job as police chief is to continue that we have a safe environment ... pushing down crime.”

Alaina De Biasi, professor of criminology and criminal justice at Wayne State University in Detroit, said major reductions in crime, nationally, is “kind of a return to pre-pandemic levels.”

Many cities reported increases in crime, especially gun violence, associated with the coronavirus pandemic. Homicides increased nearly 30% in 2020 over the previous year.

“We have multiple violence reduction initiatives happening at any one time,” De Biasi said of Detroit.

One focuses on using intelligence around gun crimes to identify people using firearms and times and areas in the city where crime occurs most often. More than 6,200 guns were recovered in Detroit in 2025.

A team of officers has been put together to respond to illegal street parties, while metal detectors and scanners are used during large events like the 2024 NFL Draft, which was held downtown.

Bettison attributed Detroit’s success to partnerships with federal offices and agencies, local and state law enforcement, and the community.

Detroit's homicide rate also is on the decline. The city’s homicide rate was about 32 per 100,000 residents in 2024, according to a study by the Center for Public Safety Initiatives at the Rochester Institute of Technology.

In 2025, the rate was down to about 25 per 100,000 residents based on the city's population of about 645,000 residents.