Number of homicides in Detroit the lowest in decades, chief says

DETROIT (AP) — Detroit’s chief of police says the number of homicides in the city in 2017 was the lowest in more than 50 years.

The Detroit News cites James Craig as saying there were 267 homicides in Michigan’s largest city last year. That would be the fewest number of homicides since 1966, when there were 214.

The 2017 figure still must be confirmed in a review. Department officials will hold a news conference later this week to address the numbers.

Changing demographics make the 267 number look less impressive. The Detroit News says that, factoring in Detroit’s current population of around 670,000, the rate of homicides in 2017 was around 40 per 100,000 residents.

The rate in 1966, when Detroit had around 1.5 million people, was just 14 per 100,000 residents.