Detroit Murders Drop 25%. But At What Cost?

by Matt Kelley · 2010-04-06 19:56:00 UTC
Topics:

Last week, we brought you news that Newark's achieved its first murder-free month since 1966. This week, it's Detroit turning heads for the city's dropping murder rate. The city saw 25% fewer murders in the first quarter of 2010 compared to last year. That's an impressive change.

But what did it cost? Some are wondering, for example, if new Detroit Police Chief Warren Evans is essentially fighting crime through use of racial profiling.

It seems to me that the jury is still out on that question. While a some of Detroit's tactics are questionable, police presence on the street does prevent crime. Something is working, so we shouldn't so quick to write such tactics off.

Evans credits his "Mobile Strike Force" with a role in the decline in murders in Detroit. The initiative calls on police to stop cars by designating "hot spots" for traffic violations — they then take liberties to search the cars for drugs and guns. These searches may be technically illegal much of the time, but most will never be challenged.

Robert Brignall at the Detroit Examiner reports that a February memo from Mobile Strike Force head Eric Jones warned officers that they could be disciplined if they don't meet traffic stop quotas. Quotas and aggressive searches are troubling — they lead to more stops of people of color, they lead to minor arrests and scuffles with well-meaning people who happen to live in bad neighborhoods. They can lead to unnecessary arrests and days in court, which leads to distrust of the system.

It's a difficult balance. Profiling is wrong and destructive, but police need to focus on high-crime areas. So while Detroit needs to scale back the quotas and the searches and focus on drug crimes, the city is right to put police presence where it's needed.

Chief Evans must proceed carefully, or his plan will backfire in a big way. In the meantime, though, Detroit should be congratulated for its big drop in murders.

Photo Credit: ampersandyslexia

Matt Kelley is the Online Communications Manager at the Innocence Project and a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. Follow him on Twitter @mattjkelley.
PREVIOUS STORY:
Trying a 12-Year-Old As An Adult? PA Says, No Problem
NEXT STORY:
Make the Call! Stop the Torture of Special Needs Children in Massachusetts

COMMENTS (0)

    Comment Policy

    · All fields are required to comment.

    [X]

    Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the campaign on Change.org. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments which, as determined solely in our discretion: (1) are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; (2) include content solely intended to personally attack the campaign creator, (3) are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them; and/or (4) violate our terms of service and/or privacy policy. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion. Please also be advised that: (A) we do not actively curate and/or monitor in any manner whatsoever the comments made on the Change.org platform, and (B) the creator of each campaign on Change.org may remove any comment at her/his/its discretion.