This morning, I read this article, which notes that New York City's murder rate is down 23% this year, with 366 as of the time of the article. The final number of homicides is expected to come in at just over 400.

As of November 25, Detroit has had 354 homicides. At this rate, Detroit will also approach 400 homicides, leaving a possibility NYC, with more than 11 times the number of people, could have fewer homicides than Detroit for the year.

By posting this article, I do not mean to imply that Detroit can have the same murder rate as New York City. New York City is much wealthier and does not face the same pervasive problems that Detroit faces. That said, New York City had over 2,200 murders in 1990. At the time, many thought the city's problems were intractable, and many called the city ungovernable. But change was possible, and improvements were made, now leaving NYC as the safest big city in the country.

There here is no reason that Detroit could not have a dramatic crime reduction with better leadership and deployment of its resources. Each homicide is a tragedy, and it is absolutely shameful that the city has not been able to approach the crime problem more effectively.