After decades of blindly following the Democratic playbook and words of blame for conservatives, the residents of Detroit decided to try another route. Sick of the massive murder rate and reputation as a haven for criminals, they set out to crack down on criminals, liberal agenda be damned.
To make these changes, they needed to change the way crime was handled. Simply put, they needed to become conservatives. Now, as a result, they are looking at a 60-year-low in murders for 2023. With 228 homicides as of November 30th, they’ve seen an 18% drop in homicides since the same time last year. By this figure, they’re on pace for resetting the 60-year record, which was last set in 2018, with 261 for the year.
Doing this wasn’t easy for the City of Detroit.
Following decades of DAs and law enforcement doing the bare minimum of investigative work, they simply allowed crime to grow and thrive. Emboldened by not being caught, many of these criminals kept committing crimes. That is until the Wayne County Circuit and 36th District courts agreed to clear their backlog of felony cases, with actionable focus on the gun cases.
Supporting the processing of these cases, Detroit also increased the funding and size of its police force. The sheriff’s department and county prosecutor’s offices also saw boosts in their funding and manpower. Working like a well-oiled machine, they developed a FAST team specifically to pursue and apprehend those with felony warrants. In record time, they apprehended over 1,000 people with felony warrants.
Felony gun case backlogs went from 4,000 in January 2022 to 1,330 in November 2023, which also marked a 67% drop from 2022. In the 36th District Court, over 2,000 backlogged pretrial felony gun cases were listed as pending in January 2022. As of November 2023, that number was just 415, an 80% reduction.
Wayne County Executive Warren Evans was exceptionally proud of the date this new report contained. “Leadership, teamwork, and a commitment to the community were key components of this initiative. Our data shows that 50 fewer Detroit’s will lose their lives to gun violence in 2023 and 100 fewer will suffer gunshot injuries.”
The decision to make such a radical change wasn’t easy for Detroit, but it was necessary. Following a record-setting 2021 as violence spiked following the pandemic, they needed funding to make the change. Despite liberals saying police funding was making things worse, they were about to get $2.5 million in state funding in 2021. Following the massive success with that bit of cash, they got $12.5 in 2023 to help continue the funding of these public safety initiatives.
Overall, the crime rates are trending downwards across Detroit, officials are having to pivot like the criminals do. Looking at individual precinct results, the 2nd, 4th, and 5th precincts are reporting increased homicides and are putting the downward trend across the city at risk of going back up.
Critics of the new policy have been quick to proclaim that they aren’t working and point to these individual precincts but neglect the big-picture view. The rest of the city can be cleaned up, but it will take some significant effort from the rest of the city. A shift in funding, more and better law enforcement in those areas, and more efficient district attorneys may help to clean up these hot spots.
No matter how Democrats want to frame it, their social justice, “jail makes more criminals” mindset is only helping to make America a more dangerous place to live. Detroit is proving that we need to get the criminals away from our streets and instead lock them up where they can’t hurt someone else. Effective policing, enforcing sentencing and discipline, as well as providing ways to have hope for the future are the keys to our success as a nation.
Thanks to Detroit for once again showing America how to solve our problems with innovation.
