LANSING — A new analysis has reported a sharp drop in reported crimes across the State of Michigan, even as the number of police officers has declined across the State and crime rates have reached an all-time high in the City of Detroit in 2012, according to the data.

According to the FBI, the number of crimes reported to the agency has fallen sharply by 21.9 percent, from 2003 to 2012, while the number of State, County and local police officers in Michigan has also fallen about 9.5 percent, from 2003 to 2012.

The new Detroit Police Department

According to Bob Stevenson, executive director of the Michigan Association of Police Chiefs, a number of factors may be involved in the reported crime drops. The number one leading factor may be the fact that the under 30 population, the leading age group that is likely to commit crimes, has fallen in Michigan since 2000. According to the U.S. Census, in the year 2000, there were 4.2 million residents in Michigan under the age of 30. In 2010, that number dropped to 3.9 million. 

Another contributing factor is the increased use of cell phones and better strategized crime-mapping technology from local departments, which have kept residents in the loop. Young adults, living at home with their parents for a longer period of time may be another factor. Some suggest that the legalization of abortion, which has reduced unwanted children, who are more likely to be abandoned by family members, could also be a contributing factor.

However, just because the FBI’s data suggests that crime reporting is down, it might not necessarily mean that crime is down, overall. According to Fred Timpner, executive director of the labor union Michigan Association of Police, the drop in reported crimes could be nothing more than a correlation to the public being less likely to report a crime to the police.

That may very well be true in many areas in Detroit, where police response time could sometimes exceed an hour, discouraging locals from reporting less serious crimes, such as vandalism or lighter cases of assault. Despite the FBI’s report for decreased crime reporting in the State, it does not appear to have had an impact on the City of Detroit, which in the last two years has seen murder rates and property crime reach an all-time high.

However, regardless of this factor, there still appears to be a brighter picture for the entire State. 376,454 major crimes in Michigan were reported to the FBI in 2003. Of those, 325,456 were property crimes and 50,998 were crimes of violence. In 2011, the latest data available, the crime total fell to 293,881, with 250,325 of those being property crimes and 43,556 being violent crimes.