Detroit murders fall below 200 for first time in 6 decades, police chief says

George Hunter, The Detroit News on Jan 7, 2026

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DETROIT — The city fell under 200 homicides for the first time in six decades in 2025, Police Chief Todd Bettison and other city officials said Wednesday, marking three consecutive years of decline and mirroring a national downward trend.

Detroit recorded 165 homicides last year, the fewest number since the city had 125 homicides in 1964 and a 19% decrease from 2024.

Nonfatal shootins declined 26% to 447 from 607 in 2024, while carjackings plunged 46% from 142 to 77, a record since the police department began counting in the early 1990s. These developments contributed to a 10.2% drop in total violent crime, according to Detroit Police.

"What we’re doing in Detroit is working,” Detroit Police Chief Todd Bettison said. “(Crime) is going down, down, down. And we will double down in 2026, and continue investing in crime prevention, enforcement, technology — everything.”

During a press conference at Detroit Public Safety Headquarters discussing the crime statistics, Mayor Mary Sheffield also announced the creation of the Office of Neighborhood and Community Safety, which will focus on mental health issues, after-school programs and job training and placement.

Sheffield attributed the lower numbers to “a holistic approach to public safety.”

“It’s not just about law enforcement; there’s a human side,” Sheffield said. “It has to be addressed holistically, and our chief understands that.”

The lower crime statistics, the mayor said, "means fewer families are grieving, fewer lives are disrupted, and families can feel safe in their homes."

In 1974, when the city recorded a record 801 homicides and had a population of 1.5 million, Detroit’s homicide rate per 100,000 was 53.4. In 2025, with the city’s population at around 645,700, the rate was 25.5 per 100,000, according to Detroit Police Department figures.

The decline in homicides was foreshadowed in October, when then-Mayor Mike Duggan and Bettison said the city's homicides had dropped 15% during the third quarter in 2025 from the same period in 2024, from 155 to 132. In the third quarter of 2022, there were 223 homicides in Detroit, 41% more than the same period in 2025.

At the same event, Bettison and Duggan also hailed a 29% decline in carjackings to 64 from Jan. 1-Sept. 30 in 2025 from 90 during the same period in 2024.

At the time, city officials highlighted a "change in culture" among police officers and Detroit residents as being partially responsible for the drops in murders and carjackings. Duggan and Bettison also credited technology, including Project Green Light cameras at gas stations and other businesses as well as the Real Time Crime Center, for the drop in carjackings and other violent crimes.

"We broke the back of carjackings in the city of Detroit," Bettison said in October.

Other cities, including Chicago and New York, recorded steep drops in homicides in 2025, with New York experiencing a reported 20% decline, while Chicago's 29% reduction in killings was the largest in 60 years, according to police. Homicides in Washington D.C., dropped 30%, police said. Philadelphia reported a nearly 60-year low in murders.