Detroit Murder Rate Tops In The Nation

[Purveyor]

DETROIT, Jan. 4 (UPI) -- The increase in Detroit's murder rate during 2012 shows "we've just lost respect for each other," says Mayor Dave Bing.

Some 386 people were killed in Detroit during 2012, the major revealed during a news conference Thursday.

In 2011, officials recorded 344 homicides. If justifiable homicides are included, the number jumps to 411.

--CLIP
The numbers represent a murder rate of 53 for every 100,000 residents, the highest of the nation's 20 most populous cities.

Police also reported 1,263 non-fatal shootings for the year, a 1.5 percent increase from 2011.

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2013/01/04/Detroit-murder-rate-tops-in-the-nation/UPI-25791357331974/#ixzz2H7Rnb06F

[Purveyor]

1. Sad that I have to lecture my family to not go east of the Metro airport and then go directly

to the airport of I-94.

It is...what it is.

[FrodosPet]

5. Most murders are people who know each other

Or, they are "In The Game".

There are a few innocent bystanders, store clerks, etc. who get murdered. Just stay out of the neighborhoods at night (like Van Dyke and Harper, or really anywhere near Coleman Young (City) Airport, or State Fair and John R, or 5 Mile and Evergreen), avoid dead end roads and driveways, keep your windows up, and always use "carjacking defense strategy" (never get boxed in at traffic lights), and you should be OK.

Taylor, Allen Park, Dearborn - those are east of Metro and not particularly dangerous.

[etherealtruth]

2. I do a lot of investigative work (not in any way related to crime) in the City of Detroit

Safety has become a real issue.

There is evidence of some increased development and other positive activity within the city, but it is sadly overshadowed by safety concerns. It is heart breaking for the residents of this once great city.

[Purveyor]

3. If I had to work in Detroit, it would be a compelling reason for me to get a ccw permit, indeed! eom

[madville]

4. I would like to know the stories behind the 67 justifiable homicides

Many of stories probably demonstrate a legitimate need for the means to defend one's self

[FrodosPet]

8. According to the DPD, there were 3 officer-involved justifiable homicides

http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2012/06/justified_to_kill_read_why_det.html

In a city that just might be the nation’s justifiable homicide capital, Willie White was watching basketball when he heard the intruders return.

So, after he flipped off the television and grabbed his gun, the 75-year-old retiree took the last shot of the night.

White had worried they might come back. They'd broken a gate to his backyard the night before, and thrown rocks through two different windows. He'd called police, but an officer told him it could be days before someone showed up to take a report.

Like many Detroit residents frustrated by the city’s dwindling police resources, White prepared himself for the worst.

~ snip ~

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http://www.freep.com/article/20130103/NEWS01/130103030/detroit-homicide-numbers-2012

Detroit homicide toll soars to 411 including justifiable killings -- worst year since 2007

~ snip ~

Blackmon said many of the 2012 homicides involved suspects who were acquainted with their victims. He said the homicide section, which has fewer investigators than in years past, closed more than 150 of the cases in 2012.

~ snip ~

Bing said police need residents’ help.

“I think the message that we want our citizens to understand is we need them,” he said. “We need them to help us. I just don’t believe that our police department should have the total responsibility for safety in the city.”

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The only hope of solving the murders involves "snitching", which makes you very unpopular and, all too often, the next victim.

[kwassa]

6. Death of the American auto industry

and the Big Three created some of this themselves, the intense poverty of Detroit, by leaving the city and setting up plants elsewhere, abandoning the ones in the city itself. Detroit is a one-industry town, automobiles and products related to them.

then, the globalization of autos, the war with the imports, and further decline.

The Detroit suburbs are quite nice, by the way.

[FrodosPet]

7. Kind of true, but not completely

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_former_automotive_manufacturing_plants

The Packard plant died with the Packard brand back in the 19950s and the old Chrysler Hamtramck plant became the new, bigger GM Poletown plant. Clark Street Assembly became an industrial park.

Many more plants have closed outside of Michigan, and the companies are bringing back even more facilities to Michigan because of the existing infrastructure and lower transportation costs. The GM (as well as Compuware and Quicken Loans) headquarters employ many thousands of people in downtown Detroit. But alas, most of them are commuters.

[kwassa]

9. My dad worked at Clark Street.

market research for Cadillac. Spent 30 years at GM.

different divisions, and we moved around the country for the jobs.

I think your view of the auto industry bringing back jobs to Detroit is more optimistic that mine. I haven't worked there since the '70s, and things were bad then and then got a lot worse. I remember the abandoned Ford plant in Highland Park. We also lived in northern Ohio, where there was a large Ford assembly plant, not on your Wiki list, Lorain Assembly, that close in 2005, after making 7,500,000 vehicles. US Steel also closed their second biggest plant in the US in Lorain. There were no other large employers in the county.