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Detroit police chief reports big drops in homicides, outlines youth and parks strategies

Detroit City Council — Internal Operations Committee · January 14, 2026
AI-Generated Content: All content on this page was generated by AI to highlight key points from the meeting. For complete details and context, we recommend watching the full video. so we can fix them.

Summary

In a confirmation interview before the City Council internal-operations committee, Police Chief Bettison said homicides fell to 165 last year (a 20% drop from 2024 and about 50% since 2020) and described expanded community violence interventions, park enforcement plans and curfew measures to reduce juvenile shootings.

Chief Bettison told the council that the Detroit Police Department ended the year with 165 homicides, down about 20% from 2024 and roughly 50% since 2020. “We came in at 202 [historic low]… we actually ended the year with 165,” he said, and added that department investments and interagency collaboration have produced declines across violent- and property-crime categories.

Bettison credited expanded community violence intervention (CVI) work and partnerships with state, county and…

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