DETROIT, June 27 (UPI) -- New crime statistics out of Detroit show the homicide rate in the Motor City has declined 27 percent since last summer.
The decline, along with a 22 percent drop in non-fatal shootings, follows a national trend, but also reflects well on the city's new police chief, Warren Evans, who took command nearly a year ago.
The Detroit News reported Sunday Evans pledged last July he would be using statistic-based deployments of patrol officers and special task forces to snuff out growing crime rates in neighborhoods where they were needed the most. The total number of killings this year as of last Wednesday was 140.
"He talked about using a data-driven approach, and we saw dividends from that almost immediately," said Assistant Police Chief Ralph Godbee.
Criminal justice expert Richard Weinblatt said demographics, particularly an aging population in Detroit and nationwide, contributed to the overall crime downturn despite tough economic times. But, he added, the use of statistics in mapping out more-productive officer assignments was also playing an integral role.
