Crime updates from Chief Craig

**corktownyuppie** · May-17-14, 10:47 PM

Crime is down in every category, year-over-year. Single digits in some areas. Double digits in others. People are making the argument that the cold might have led to the reduction in crime volume. You'll get no complaint from me there...that might be true.

But the most surprising statistic as far as I am concerned is the homicide clearance rate. What was shocking in the past was not just the number of homicides. But the fact that almost 90% of them went unsolved. I mean, that's just crazy...the fact that 90% of the time you murder someone in Detroit, it goes unsolved.

Until now...apparently homicide clearance is at 100% so far for the year.

http://www.hourdetroit.com/Hour-Detr...ning-the-Tide/

...the fact that this department had an 11 percent clearance rate to homicides. Right now year-to-date, we’re sitting on a 100 percent clearance rate. This is not the same police department that it was eight months ago.

Obivously, we need the homicide rate to go down. That will be the real proof in the pudding. But the rate can't go down if 90% of them go unsolved. So it's good to see that progress.

**MikeyinBrooklyn** · May-18-14, 01:20 AM

Yeah, DPD is doing a much better job. I like Craig a lot; he seems honest, upfront, and aggressive. The cold winter surely helped suppress crime [[it always does, in every northern city), but the police seem more on top of things, too. With the rate of solving crimes going up, the amount of crimes committed will plummet in the coming years [[that is not wishful thinking; most criminals, especially violent criminals, commit crimes over and over; once you throw many of them in the clink, there will be fewer people willing to kill, rape, rob, etc on the street).

GUSHI · May-18-14, 05:48 AM

harsh winter = less crime
less people to commit crime= less crime

what I have noticed is more crime in the suburbs, that mostly due to detroiter's relocation to the suburbs due to the housing crises,

can bet any money crime is up especially in the inner ring suburbs, even Sterling Heights, harrision twp and Troy have had issue w crime sprees .

**compn** · May-18-14, 06:52 AM

100% murders cleared this year?

i have doubts.

**Zacha341** · May-18-14, 07:13 AM

Yeah I sorta blinked when I said that. We've got some ways to go to address the robbing, raping and murder quotient but pressure is being applied along with private citizen push back.

Originally Posted by compn

100% murders cleared this year?

i have doubts.

**corktownyuppie** · May-18-14, 07:14 AM

Originally Posted by compn

100% murders cleared this year?

i have doubts.

I'll be at the next DPD Commissioner's meeting. If you have a specific question or example, I'll happily bring it up and let you know how they respond.

**mwilbert** · May-18-14, 08:01 AM

Originally Posted by corktownyuppie

Obivously, we need the homicide rate to go down. That will be the real proof in the pudding. But the rate can't go down if 90% of them go unsolved. So it's good to see that progress

I doubt this is correct. Most homicides aren't committed or not committed with a view toward the likelihood of punishment, so whether you solve them or not doesn't have a big affect whether most homicides happen--homicides are more a product of the overall environment. Clearance of homicides is a good thing for lots of reasons, but it isn't a requirement for reducing homicide rates. On the other hand, getting crime in general down will almost certainly reduce homicides, and if you aren't solving homicides you probably aren't solving a lot of other crimes either, including types of crime where solving crimes has a big effect on incidence.

Regardless, I welcome any sign that the DPD is improving, and this is one of those signs. I hope for continued improvement.

believe14 · May-18-14, 08:06 AM

"UPDATE, March 1, 2014: This map is no longer being updated due to the Detroit Police Department's cessation of crime summary reports.

From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/9...#ixzz324XVKGFQ"

Complete BS. Same guy who stopped reported crime to the media? Same guy doing phony media busts of guys with outstanding speeding tickets and minor possession charges? This guy is a fraud who loves seeing his mug in the paper. He got rid of any and all crime transparency. Smoke and mirrors.

**brizee** · May-18-14, 08:08 AM

Originally Posted by corktownyuppie

I'll be at the next DPD Commissioner's meeting. If you have a specific question or example, I'll happily bring it up and let you know how they respond.

Why are they playing media games instead of releasing the truth?

http://motorcitymuckraker.com/blog/2...-media-public/

In what "ignorance-is-knowledge" is less information more acceptable than more information?

**mwilbert** · May-18-14, 08:20 AM

Originally Posted by brizee

Why are they playing media games instead of releasing the truth?

http://motorcitymuckraker.com/blog/2...-media-public/

In what "ignorance-is-knowledge" is less information more acceptable than more information?

It might be interesting to know why they changed the information they were releasing, but as they say in the article, information about the incidence of the crimes is posted at crimestoppers, so I'm not sure they are exactly covering things up.

**softailrider** · May-18-14, 08:24 AM

Originally Posted by compn

100% murders cleared this year?

i have doubts.

You and me both. So all the dead bodies they find in the city are all accounted for?

believe14 · May-18-14, 08:29 AM

Craig did the dumb cop scam of getting a joke online masters from University of Phoenix, even though Cincinnati has about a dozen universities within an hour of town. [[Even worse, officers routinely pay someone to do the online work for them.) Then the word comes out that he's too mentally vacant to pass the state's police exam in Ohio and Michigan. Then that story about the car jacking that I'm convinced was completely fabricated. This guy is a crime data manipulating clown, that loves see his mug on television. I don't care enough to look, but I'd bet be pulled all of this same bs in the 'nati. Snyder and Orr scraped the bottom with this hire.

The Detroit print and television media give this guy all of this pub because advertiser and crony interests depend on projecting Detroit in a positive light. Follow the money. Those "major busts" that net guys in jail for a few hours for minor offenses like: petty possession, traffic and child support warrants. Pathetic. This is all amateur hour smoke and mirrors.

**cla1945** · May-18-14, 09:09 AM

I like Chief Craig. I have respect for him. Any previous chief could have been out there fighting crime if they had they same resources that Craig has at his disposal now. Newsflash!
When the City went bankrupt, all of a sudden there is money for police? Why? Simple answer...the City is no longer contributing to pension funds, healthcare. They've cut active employees pay, healthcare. Detroit has lots of money now, off the backs of the current employees and retirees. Also, from someone who knows and experienced specific orders from "on high", Detroit has been notorious in fudging the crime statistic numbers, the statistics for the number of fires since the riots.

**Gannon** · May-18-14, 12:40 PM

Say what you will about the guy, he gets involved at street level.

Almost gave me whiplash seeing him directing the joggers at last year's Turkey Trot. He wasn't on any soap-box or under a spotlight...and it was damn cold. And slippery.

As chief, he didn't need to be out there, but he was. Just doin' the work.

I think he enjoyed the double-take, though, as I recognized him...took about three paces or so.

I knew something was up when MotorCity Muckraker complained about the availability of raw statistics, apparently those are compiled daily and used to be reported on the radio. I do not know the radio personality, but the fellow recently passed away and the daily data availability ended near the same time. There was some question about the timing of it all, but now that the Chief has decided to make this a PR feature of his tenure, it all starts to make sense.

Someone has to control the propaganda.

**313WX** · May-18-14, 01:06 PM

Originally Posted by Gannon

I knew something was up when MotorCity Muckraker complained about the availability of raw statistics, apparently those are compiled daily and used to be reported on the radio. I do not know the radio personality, but the fellow recently passed away and the daily data availability ended near the same time. There was some question about the timing of it all, but now that the Chief has decided to make this a PR feature of his tenure, it all starts to make sense.

Angelo Henderson?

**compn** · May-18-14, 04:21 PM

Originally Posted by corktownyuppie

I'll be at the next DPD Commissioner's meeting. If you have a specific question or example, I'll happily bring it up and let you know how they respond.

well its just my hunch that 'clearing' a murder is just code-word for attaching a suspect or cause of death.
the statistic on 'cleared' murders really isnt useful. cops write down a suspect in a file, its cleared.

how about solved murders? or any stats on cold case files being reinvestigated?

i dont think any of these questions matter. you can see they are playing word games and hide the statistics. why would they be truthful at dpd commissioner meeting?

heres a few questions , if you want to ask them something:
how many bait cars for stolen vehicles are you currently running? do you need more bait cars from feds/automakers?
how many carjacking stings are you running [[per month) at gas stations / bank atms?
how many patrols are you running at the hilderberg project? why havent you caught any arsonists?

**softailrider** · May-18-14, 05:19 PM

I think it's complete bullshit. No big city solves 100% of their homicides. If that's what they're saying.

**jolla** · May-19-14, 08:28 AM

Originally Posted by mwilbert

Most homicides aren't committed or not committed with a view toward the likelihood of punishment, so whether you solve them or not doesn't have a big affect whether most homicides happen

If a murderer gets caught and imprisoned, he cannot commit another murder. So there is an affect. I agree the idea of punishment doesn't deter most of these people from committing murder, but steel bars can deter subsequent murders.

**aj3647** · May-19-14, 09:25 AM

The "100% clearance" rate is guaranteed bullshit. No major city in America has a 100% homicide clearance rate, it's practically impossible.

Washington DC was claiming a 94% homicide clearance rate, which they got by using misleading statistics:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/invest...bMR_story.html

Their ACTUAL clearance rate for 2011 homicides was 57%, they claimed it was 94% because any homicide committed in a previous year that was cleared in 2011 got added to the 2011 clearance rate even though the murder may have been from years past. Basically, they added murders to the numerator without adding them to the denominator. It's extremely misleading.

I suspect Chief Craig is using the exact same method.

**JBMcB** · May-19-14, 09:37 PM

Originally Posted by aj3647

I suspect Chief Craig is using the exact same method.

My cousin was shot in the neck while visiting her boyfriend on the west side about ten years ago. It was a random thing - a guy was shooting people randomly in the area over the course of the previous few months. He shot twice, missing her head by inches with one shot and hitting her neck with the second. Miraculously he missed anything really vital, she got away with not much more than a nasty scar.

The police wrote it up as aggravated assault. 'Cause, you know, they couldn't *prove* the shooter wanted her dead. He was probably shooting at her head just to wound her, right?

Anyways I'm sure it kept the homicide stats down. They never caught the guy.

**mwilbert** · May-19-14, 11:03 PM

Originally Posted by jolla

If a murderer gets caught and imprisoned, he cannot commit another murder. So there is an affect. I agree the idea of punishment doesn't deter most of these people from committing murder, but steel bars can deter subsequent murders.

I agree with this, but the vast majority of murderers don't commit more than one murder, so the effect is pretty small. But I'm all in favor of locking up murderers, I was only making the point that it isn't a necessity for lowering the murder rate.