DETROIT — Seeking to counter the negative impression created by several crimes that recently rocked the city, Mayor Mary Sheffield and Police Chief Todd Bettison held a joint press conference with other officials on Monday to highlight the “historic” improvements in public safety the city has experienced since the beginning of this year, particularly during the summer months.

Bettison pointed to declining crime across all categories during the first nine months of the year compared with the same period last year. The police chief presented a chart showing homicides falling to 105, an 18 percent decline, and nonfatal shootings dropping nearly 9 percent to 322 during the nine months from January through September. He also said carjackings had declined from 65 to 51 so far this year.

“I am pleased to say that Detroit experienced a much safer summer this year compared with previous years,” said Sheffield, who took office at the beginning of the year, succeeding former Mayor Mike Duggan.

Coming just days after a massacre that left three people dead and four wounded inside a house associated with suspicious activity on the city’s west side — and, before that, the fatal stabbing of a restaurant worker in broad daylight downtown — Bettison’s figures offered a positive picture of public safety in the city, showing substantial declines in crime during the summer months of June through August.

Part I violent crimes declined by 9 percent this past summer compared with the same period last year. Homicides, specifically, fell by 25 percent during those three months, from 56 in summer 2025 to 42.

Carjackings recorded the largest percentage decline during the summer, falling 34.6 percent, from 26 incidents to just 17. Residential burglaries and vehicle thefts also declined by approximately 10 percent, according to police statistics.

The statistics were presented during the press conference at the Adams Butzel Recreation Center in northwest Detroit to underscore the effectiveness of Sheffield’s administration in reducing summer crime through a series of initiatives and measures specifically targeting teenagers.

Official figures showed the number of juvenile homicide victims declining from nine in summer 2025 to one this past summer. The victim was a 14-year-old boy who was fatally shot after a 15-year-old boy robbed him of his backpack on September 13 on Brace Street in Detroit, according to charges issued by the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office.

Sheffield described the new figures as “more than just numbers”, saying they represent “young lives that were able to return home safely.

“While there is certainly more work to be done, this progress shows us that what we are doing and the approach we are taking are making a difference in residents’ lives and in our city’s neighborhoods,” she added.

Sheffield linked that progress to her “Occupy the Summer” program, which she launched in response to large gatherings of teenagers downtown that had previously led to violence and disorder during the spring. The mayor said more than 15,000 young people participated in events organized by the city in partnership with local organizations, including giveaways and basketball games.

Bettison said department officers issued a total of 85 citations for violations of the nighttime juvenile curfew during the summer months, an increase of 28 percent over the same period last year. Meanwhile, citations related to parental responsibility declined by 25 percent to 44, as police worked with families and exercised discretion when they determined that parents had not been negligent or responsible for their children’s curfew violations.

Bettison, whom Duggan appointed to lead the police department in 2024, noted that Part I violent crime rates have continued to decline since 2022.

“I am not celebrating this; there is still too much violence, but our strategy is working,” he said, emphasizing that “what we are doing is producing positive results, and we will continue intensifying our efforts in this direction… because we are on the right track.”

Bettison said the ultimate goal is to reduce annual homicides to fewer than 100.

Detroit recorded 165 homicides during all of last year, with 17 classified as “justifiable”, involving self-defense or other circumstances. The city thus recorded its lowest annual homicide total since 1964, when there were just 125.