Updated interactive map of major violent crime in Detroit

[getmoore]

We have work to do.http://www.detroitnews.com/article/9...AL01/120606001

[poobert]

We have work to do.http://www.detroitnews.com/article/9...AL01/120606001

Here is the problem: The violence is almost totally evenly distributed throughout the entire city. While Chicago's Mayor can target 16 fucked up blocks on the southside, Detroit's violence is spread relatively evenly throughout its 130 odd square miles.

One thing I can say with total confidence: too many fucking guns. Now enter the gun nuts that bafflingly look at that map and say what we need is more...

[cman710]

While there are some areas that are worse than others, the most striking thing about this map is how widespread the shootings have been throughout the ciy. While there some neighborhoods with no shootings [[e.g., Palmer Woods, Green Acres, Woodbridge), there have been shootings/homicides very close to them. This makes policing very, very difficult.

Also, looking at the time of day, all these are not happening in the wee hours of the morning. For example, of the four shootings in Midtown, one was 3:00pm, one at 7:25pm, one at 9:30pm, and one at 11:20pm.

[iheartthed]

While there are some areas that are worse than others, the most striking thing about this map is how widespread the shootings have been throughout the ciy. While there some neighborhoods with no shootings [[e.g., Palmer Woods, Green Acres, Woodbridge), there have been shootings/homicides very close to them. This makes policing very, very difficult.

From my brief spot check of the map it also seems like the majority of shootings have taken place either on or close to primary and secondary roadways.

[getmoore]

From my brief spot check of the map it also seems like the majority of shootings have taken place either on or close to primary and secondary roadways.

I noticed that also.

[cman710]

From my brief spot check of the map it also seems like the majority of shootings have taken place either on or close to primary and secondary roadways.

I think that is right. I may have missed one, but a quick count shows 14 shootings, 4 homicides, and 1 suspected homicide within a 1 block radius of Mack.

[Eastburn]

Makes me so proud that my old neighborhood [[48205) is one of the hotspots. God help us. If [[when) I go back there, I'll sure as hell be carrying.

[gameguy56]

Surprised by all the violence by Marygrove College

[DetroitPlanner]

Surprised by all the violence by Marygrove College

Why surprised? Nuns have been known to smack students for years.

Whats most upsetting is the number of people who have seemed to have gotten away with these crimes. Hardly any arrests.

[BrushStart]

I wonder how many of these shootings are drug-related... Decriminalize drugs and see most of these shootings drop off immediately. The "War on Drugs" has made our cities into "war zones."

Nonetheless, the map is scary.

[brizee]

I wonder how many of these shootings are drug-related... Decriminalize drugs and see most of these shootings drop off immediately. The "War on Drugs" has made our cities into "war zones."

Nonetheless, the map is scary.

Preach.

I have no interest in recreational drugs. Never done them and as long as you can be arrested for them and denied employment I have no interest.

But it's ridiculous we still have these backwards racist laws on the books.

Take away that source of income and there's no product, no territory and no competition that gunplay protects or solves.

It won't make senseless murder and violence disappear. But it will damn sure take a huge bite out of it.

The sad thing is leadership from Obama on down won't even touch it. Detroiters will get to vote to decriminalize weed this November. Godbee has already said his officers will use state and federal laws to make arrests. In a city that's already illegally cutting wages a court ordered them not to do, they're going to spend money on busting pot users. How goddamn backwards is that?

[Danny]

Going across south of 8 Mile Rd. is like walking across 110th Street. Crime in Detroit is no joke! You can get robbed and killed for 50 cents!

[cman710]

It would also be interesting to find out in how many of these cases the victim knew the perpetrator. My guess is that random crime is relatively rare, and that in most of these cases, the perpetrator knew the victim - whether from longtime school/friend relationships, criminal relationships [[e.g., drug dealers), or from other contexts.

[poobert]

It would also be interesting to find out in how many of these cases the victim knew the perpetrator. My guess is that random crime is relatively rare, and that in most of these cases, the perpetrator knew the victim - whether from longtime school/friend relationships, criminal relationships [[e.g., drug dealers), or from other contexts.

That is a shitload of bullets flying around, regardless, and they don't always hit their intended targets. Those gunshots also act as unwelcome alarm clocks at 3:00am as well.

[Gannon]

This is for a third of the year?! Wow.

I would've bet on something in the area between Mack and Warren, Alter and Cadieux. I hear gunfire that has to be from there too often for no homocides. They must be really poor shots.

No matter, this is one big yuck. Cannot even imagine what it'd look like if they showed the whole year.

[Bham1982]

Here is the problem: The violence is almost totally evenly distributed throughout the entire city. While Chicago's Mayor can target 16 fucked up blocks on the southside, Detroit's violence is spread relatively evenly throughout its 130 odd square miles.

I see what you're saying, but it isn't really that different. Most of Chicago has elevated levels of crime, and very large swaths of the West and South sides have crazy homicide rates. It's hardly 16 blocks.

The main difference is that Chicago has a much larger core and adjacent yuppie zone that has relatively low levels of violent crime. Once you get into the neighborhoods, the story is much the same.

[rex]

​

I wonder how many of these shootings are drug-related... Decriminalize drugs and see most of these shootings drop off immediately. The "War on Drugs" has made our cities into "war zones."

Nonetheless, the map is scary.

People would continue to use drugs & it would have to come from somewhere. If the govt stepped in and assumed responsibility for distribution, sold high quality narcotics for very cheap it would eventually lead to crime reduction. If a junkie didn't have to constantly shoot moves to stay as high crime would go down. The illegality of the drugs doesn't prevent most people from getting high.
I for 1 could care less if someone wants to lay around and shoot dope all day. As long as they aren't trying to break into my house or steal my car to support a habit let em do whatever. Costs a lot more to incarcerate them than keep em sated.

Right off the bat though. Detroit's dropouts that aren't already in prison. Safe to assume that many of these guys sell drugs occupationally. Much of the violence in Detroit is connected to the drug trade. These guys kill one another for any number of reasons. If all the sudden they have no job and cant sell dope then what. My guess is more violence

[SWMAP]

Don't people in the suburbs use the illegal drugs? Why does only Detroit have this huge violence?

[cman710]

Don't people in the suburbs use the illegal drugs? Why does only Detroit have this huge violence?

You raise a good point. People in lower crime cities like New York probably use illegal drugs just as frequently, but levels of violence are far lower. Clearly, other factors come into play.

Detroit is poorer than most other cities. Detroit also has a weak police department that cannot keep up with the amount of work it has. I think this creates an atmosphere of lawlessness that contributes to high levels of violence. There is no one simple explanation, though.

[Brian1979]

Here is the problem: The violence is almost totally evenly distributed throughout the entire city. While Chicago's Mayor can target 16 fucked up blocks on the southside, Detroit's violence is spread relatively evenly throughout its 130 odd square miles.

One thing I can say with total confidence: too many fucking guns. Now enter the gun nuts that bafflingly look at that map and say what we need is more...

That is one of the differences between Detroit and Chicago, in Chicago the crime is pretty much centralized for the most part, where in Detroit it's everywhere. If this was showing the same map for Chicago you'd see the Southside and Westside probably all dotted up but the Northwest and most of the Northside would be dotless, same with some areas of the Southside.

[wolverine]

I see what you're saying, but it isn't really that different. Most of Chicago has elevated levels of crime, and very large swaths of the West and South sides have crazy homicide rates. It's hardly 16 blocks.

The main difference is that Chicago has a much larger core and adjacent yuppie zone that has relatively low levels of violent crime. Once you get into the neighborhoods, the story is much the same.

Well, I pulled the data set with all the homicides in Chicago.

The data set contains the following information:

1. Home Address of the victim
2. Location address of homicide
3. Weapon used
4. Date / Time
5. Link to press release. Every time there is a minor assault up to a gruesome murder, it makes it to the paper along with mugshots.

I reorganized the data set so all homicides prior to May 1st were left out. Everything from May 1st to the date of this article were counted. Chicago had 200 homicides on the dot since then. So when I counted the red dots, though I missed a few, I go this.

Area of Chicago: 234 sq miles 200 crimes this summer
Area of Detroit: 143 sq miles 184 Crimes this summer

Nothing incredibly surprising that people haven't seen. But let's look at where you are right and wrong, Bham1982.

I see what you're saying, but it isn't really that different. Most of Chicago has elevated levels of crime, and very large swaths of the West and South sides have crazy homicide rates. It's hardly 16 blocks.

You're right, it does go more than 16 blocks. That number actually comes from some "14% shootings occurred in one area" statistic that came out recently. But it's safe to say that there's more square miles of Chicago I would personally consider to have "elevated" crime as far as theft goes but definitely not violent crime.

So perhaps we should refer to the numbers.......

main difference is that Chicago has a much larger core and adjacent yuppie zone that has relatively low levels of violent crime. Once you get into the neighborhoods, the story is much the same.

This is where you are wrong. I looked up the most recent census information. Chicago has approximately 1 million residents living North of Roosevelt Road. Roosevelt Road lies just North of Soldier field. I picked it because it yielded that 1 million count. Also, many Chicagoans casually consider this the demarcation between North and southside. It's technically Madison but irrelevant to this conversation. The important thing is there's a really large population number within the Chicago city limits north of Roosevelt Road.

How many Homicides occurred North of Roosevelt Road? According to spot crime there were 11 since May! In a contiguous population of 1 million there was only 11.

I think your statement about the yuppie population is inaccurate. Yes, the educated middle to upper class population in Chicago is growing by the year, but I'd say for the most part, it's generally middle class. You can't tell me the entire city north of Roosevelt is yuppie. But this does prove the point that violent crime is not elevated and dispersed across the neighborhoods as I believe you were alluding to when you said "crime". When you can isolate 10 square miles on the northside from a map and not encounter a single homicide, I think you can consider the entire North and Northwest and Central areas of the city to be safe.

Then you got various pockets of safe areas scattered throughout the south and southwest sides that have lower levels of violent crime. This is where I came up with that number in another thread, where I said nearly 60% of the city is generally safe.

The original poster probably made that inference from the variety of illustrative maps or simply addresses published where violent crime is most frequently happening. The numbers just provide an extra layer of clarification.

I'd like to say this comparison is a moot point. I mean the fact is both cities have hundreds of people getting killed this year. We can all agree that's bad. If anyone's considering moving to Chicago though, plenty of safe neighborhoods to choose. from.

[Brian1979]

This is where you are wrong. I looked up the most recent census information. Chicago has approximately 1 million residents living North of Roosevelt Road. Roosevelt Road lies just North of Soldier field. I picked it because it yielded that 1 million count. Also, many Chicagoans casually consider this the demarcation between North and southside. It's technically Madison but irrelevant to this conversation. The important thing is there's a really large population number within the Chicago city limits north of Roosevelt Road.

Roosevelt is 10.5 miles from the northern city limits at Howard and about 14 miles to the southern city limits around 130th.

The Northside seems to be very densely populated along the red, brown and blue lines. I can't think of one area of Detroit that is as densely populated.

[Brian1979]

I live in Canaryville, it's south of Roosevelt Road and there isn't much crime here. You have Fuller Park which is on the other side of the train viaduct from here which has some high crime and Englewood isn't too far away but avoidable. The 16 block area is in Greater Grand Crossing, it's a crime ridden neighborhood around where the Skyway and Dan Ryan intersect, it's just across the Dan Ryan from Englewood and if Englewood was part of this 16 block area then it would be for the better since Englewood is overrun with crime as well. There are probably 15-20 neighborhoods on the Southside and Westside they need to put cops in.

Also the Northside has some crime ridden areas as well they just don't cover as large of an area. Go up to Rogers Park sometime and tell me how safe the Northside is, also the Northside had Cabrini Green which was a disaster from the start. Nice to see that area making a comeback now, I got off at the North and Clybourn red line stop a few weeks ago and the area has changed a lot.

[poobert]

I live in Canaryville, it's south of Roosevelt Road and there isn't much crime here. You have Fuller Park which is on the other side of the train viaduct from here which has some high crime and Englewood isn't too far away but avoidable. The 16 block area is in Greater Grand Crossing, it's a crime ridden neighborhood around where the Skyway and Dan Ryan intersect, it's just across the Dan Ryan from Englewood and if Englewood was part of this 16 block area then it would be for the better since Englewood is overrun with crime as well. There are probably 15-20 neighborhoods on the Southside and Westside they need to put cops in.

Also the Northside has some crime ridden areas as well they just don't cover as large of an area. Go up to Rogers Park sometime and tell me how safe the Northside is, also the Northside had Cabrini Green which was a disaster from the start. Nice to see that area making a comeback now, I got off at the North and Clybourn red line stop a few weeks ago and the area has changed a lot.

You seem to know a lot about Chicago, even for a resident. Is there some equivalent of a Chicago-Yes board on the intertubes somewhere? I'd like to move there in a few years but am rather ignorant of it.