WalletHub calls Detroit 3rd-deadliest city in US; city officials question source
DETROIT (FOX 2) - Detroit officials are questioning a new WalletHub study which has residents talking, while city leaders work on solutions.
A brazen murder in broad daylight on the 19200 block of Schoolcraft on Detroit’s Northwest side. Police say it’s the result of an argument between two men, which is all too familiar with what many residents call an escalating homicide crisis in the Motor City.
"If we look at all the latest, what’s been going on lately, we got kids shooting, getting guns and then you got a lot of fights happening," said a resident, Cartier Taylor. "It shocks me. It shocks me because we're already getting voted for a lot of number one things so seems like everything good, but this is Detroit so."
Wallet Hub, a personal finance website did a study of deadly violence in America and charted Detroit as the third city with the biggest homicide rate problem in the nation behind only Atlanta and Baltimore.
FOX 2 reached out to Mayor Mike Duggan’s office for a comment on this story. A spokesperson was critical of Wallet Hub as being a source for this sort of crime reporting.
That spokesperson said the only stats that matter are those from the FBI. Wallet Hub says those are the same stats they used as part of their research.
"All of this information is collected from the census and the local crime statistics," said Jill Gonzalez. "And we’ve been updating this monthly since about the peak of the pandemic. That’s really when things started to increase."
Gonzalez is communications director for Wallet Hub says their research is also about tracking the factors that contribute to community violence. She says many potential life-saving solutions like creating a stronger economy for working families can help reverse the trend but other things have to fall into place for that to happen.
"Low socioeconomic status linked with education problems, income, employment…all these things lead to higher crime rates in general," she said. "So it’s hard when cities like Detroit and Baltimore are still trying to get over the effects of the pandemic and really create more economic status for people, while also dealing with an uptick in homicide rates."
The Detroit Police Department released a statement that said:
"The Department does not respond to unverified third-party studies about crime. We rely on the FBI uniform crime report, as does every other law enforcement agency in the country.
"Classifying cities as having 'the biggest homicide rate problem' by examining only a single quarter of a year compared to prior years is simply irresponsible and inconsistent with sound data analysis."
Despite the trends, the city said that it closed out the years 2021 and 2022 with decreases in overall violent crime.
