Detroit recorded 203 criminal homicides in 2024, the city’s fewest since 1965. The same year brought 606 non-fatal shootings, 142 carjackings, 11,826 total violent offenses, and 28,797 property offenses. These figures describe reported citywide totals for calendar year 2024; comparisons below use the measurement periods identified by the City of Detroit sources.
Contents
- Headline crime figures
- Violent crime by category
- Property crime by category
- How 2024 compares with 2023
- Police staffing and investigative activity
- Courts, arrests, and gun enforcement
- Violence prevention and response zones
Headline crime figures
The City of Detroit’s 2024 year-end statistics show declines across the principal violent-crime indicators. Criminal homicides fell from 252 in 2023 to 203 in 2024, a 19.44% decrease. The city also reported that 203 was 34% below the 2022 total and the lowest homicide count since 1965. The City of Detroit’s January 3, 2025 news release separately described the homicide total as a 19.44% year-over-year decline.
Non-fatal shootings totaled 606 in 2024, down from 804 in 2023. The year-end statistics calculated the decline at 24.63%, while the January 3, 2025 news release said non-fatal shootings were down 48% from two years earlier. Carjackings fell from 167 in 2023 to 142 in 2024, a 14.97% decrease. The same city release reported a 71% decrease in carjackings since 2015.
| Measure | 2023 | 2024 | Reported change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Criminal homicides | 252 | 203 | Down 19.44% |
| Non-fatal shootings | 804 | 606 | Down 24.63% |
| Carjackings | 167 | 142 | Down 14.97% |
| Total violent offenses | 12,764 | 11,826 | Down 7.35% |
| Total property offenses | 29,718 | 28,797 | Down 3.10% |
| Total part 1 offenses | 42,482 | 40,623 | Down 4.38% |
Source labels: [City of Detroit 2024 year-end stats PDF] and [City of Detroit Jan. 3, 2025 news release].
Violent crime by category
Total violent offenses fell to 11,826 in 2024 from 12,764 in 2023, a 7.35% decrease in the City of Detroit’s year-end statistics. The city’s January 3, 2025 news release summarized the result as a 7% drop in overall violent crime.
Aggravated assaults were the largest listed violent-crime category, with 9,797 cases in 2024. That was down 6.20% from 10,445 in 2023. Robberies totaled 1,210 in 2024, declining 13.20% from 1,394 in 2023. Sex assaults fell to 616 from 673, an 8.47% decrease.
The homicide series also provides a longer comparison in the city’s 2023 Board of Police Commissioners annual report. That report recorded 309 homicides in 2022 and 252 in 2023, an 18.4% decline. It described the 2023 total as the fewest in any year since 1966. For non-fatal shootings, the report listed 955 in 2022 and 804 in 2023, a 15.8% decline. It listed 251 carjackings in 2022 and 167 in 2023, a 33.5% decrease.
The source-year distinction matters: the 2023 annual report and the 2024 year-end statistics present adjacent annual measurements, but they are separate publications. The 2024 city release reported 203 homicides, 606 non-fatal shootings, and 142 carjackings for calendar year 2024.
Property crime by category
Detroit reported 28,797 total property offenses in 2024, down 3.10% from 29,718 in 2023. The City of Detroit’s January 3, 2025 news release rounded that result to a 3% drop in overall property crime.
Motor vehicle theft was 8,408 in 2024, down 9.20% from 9,260 in 2023. Burglary totaled 4,766, a 1.28% decline from 4,828. Larceny totaled 15,623, changing very little from 15,630 in 2023; the year-end statistics reported a 0.04% decrease.
The city’s total part 1 offense count, combining the listed violent and property measures in its year-end presentation, fell to 40,623 in 2024 from 42,482 in 2023, a 4.38% decline. The category-level figures show that the overall property change was uneven: motor vehicle theft declined more than burglary, while larceny was nearly flat.
The City of Detroit 2023 Board of Police Commissioners annual report listed 29,923 property offenses in 2023, up 4.6% from 28,616 in 2022. Its category counts were 4,821 burglaries, 15,681 larcenies, and 9,421 motor vehicle thefts. Those figures are the report’s 2023 measurements and differ slightly from the 2024 year-end comparison values published by the city.
How 2024 compares with 2023
The clearest year-over-year pattern is a broad decline in the 2024 citywide totals. Homicides decreased by 49 cases, from 252 to 203. Non-fatal shootings decreased by 198, from 804 to 606. Carjackings decreased by 25, from 167 to 142. The city reported the corresponding percentage changes as 19.44%, 24.63%, and 14.97%.
Among the broader classifications, violent offenses decreased by 938 cases, from 12,764 to 11,826, while property offenses decreased by 921, from 29,718 to 28,797. Part 1 offenses decreased by 1,859, from 42,482 to 40,623. These are differences between the city’s published annual counts; they should not be read as rates because no population denominator is supplied here.
The 2023 annual report supplies additional context for the preceding year. It recorded 12,740 total violent offenses in 2023, down 0.6% from 12,820 in 2022. It also recorded 10,427 aggravated assaults, 1,392 robberies, and 669 sex assaults in 2023. The 2024 year-end statistics reported 9,797 aggravated assaults, 1,210 robberies, and 616 sex assaults for 2024.
Police staffing and investigative activity
The City of Detroit’s January 3, 2025 news release said the Detroit Police Department had 2,634 sworn positions filled out of 2,672 total in 2024, or 99% of sworn positions filled. It also reported net sworn-officer gains of 195 in 2023 and 144 in 2024, for 339 added officers since November 2022.
The 2023 Board of Police Commissioners annual report recorded 350 sworn-officer hires and 265 civilian hires in 2023, for 615 total hires. The report also recorded 51 category 1, 396 category 2, and 544 category 3 use-of-force occurrences during 2023.
Investigative technology and coverage figures in the 2024 year-end statistics included 2,599 investigative leads generated with NIBIN and 4,753 casings entered into NIBIN. ShotSpotter coverage extended across 39 square miles, and ShotSpotter notifications led to 373 arrests. DPD reported recovering 6,211 guns in 2024. Project Green Light had 1,030 locations.
The same year-end source reported more than 600 search warrants executed with federal and local partners, more than 180 people charged federally, more than 1,700 felony arrests, and more than 520 illegal guns removed from the street through that partnership effort. These are activity totals, not measures of crime prevalence.
Courts, arrests, and gun enforcement
The 2024 year-end statistics reported that the Wayne County Circuit Court cut its pending gun-felony backlog by 77% between October 2021 and December 2024. In the 3rd Circuit, the listed gun-case backlog fell from 4,008 cases in October 2021 to 902 in December 2024.
The 36th District Court cut its pending gun-felony backlog by 84% over the same October 2021-to-December 2024 period. Its listed backlog fell from 2,098 cases to 331. These are court-case backlog measurements across specified dates, rather than annual crime counts.
FAST apprehended more than 1,060 people with outstanding felony warrants in 2024. A drag-racing detail operating from March 15 through October 20, 2024, recovered more than 75 weapons, produced more than 115 felony arrests, generated more than 85 vehicle impounds, and recovered more than 15 stolen vehicles. The source uses “more than” thresholds, so the underlying totals are not specified more precisely.
The 2023 annual report also documented oversight activity. The Office of the Chief Investigator transferred 18 complaints alleging criminal conduct in 2023, compared with 1 in 2022. That is a count of transferred complaints, not a finding that every complaint was substantiated.
Violence prevention and response zones
Detroit’s 2024 year-end statistics described six Community Violence Intervention groups actively engaged in violence prevention. Those groups covered 25 square miles, while the remaining 114 miles relied on traditional DPD law enforcement.
For the last quarter of 2024, the source reported violence reductions in each named CVI zone: 37% in the New Era Zone, 47% in the Detroit 300 Zone, 52% in the Force Detroit Zone, 61% in the Wayne Metro Zone, 73% in the People’s Community Zone, and 83% in the Friends and Family Zone. The same source reported a 35% decline in murders and shootings in non-CVI zones.
For a different comparison period, from November 1, 2023 through October 31, 2024, homicides dropped 45% in the six CVI zones. Because the quarter-specific and year-over-year zone measures cover different periods and outcomes, they should not be combined into a single citywide rate.
The Mental Health Co-Response Initiative responded to 3,055 mental-health-related calls in 2024. This is a response-volume measure and does not indicate how many calls involved a reported crime or resulted in an arrest.