Homicides down in Detroit

DETROIT, June 2 (UPI) -- The number of homicides in Detroit dropped in 2008 to the lowest level since 1967, the FBI reports.

Because the city's population has also dropped sharply, the homicide rate is far higher than it was in the 1960s, The Detroit News reported Tuesday.

The FBI, using data from local police, said there were 306 homicides in the city last year, down from 392 in 2007. In 1967, the year of a devastating riot, there were 281.

But the homicide rate is almost double with 35.8 for each 100,000 residents in 2008 compared with 18 in 1967.

Detroit's population has fallen by about half since its peak in 1950, when the Census Bureau said it had 1.85 million residents, making it the fourth largest city in the United States. In 1970, there were 1.51 million and the population was down to an estimated 917,000 last year.