The Breakdown:

Homicides fell 25% this summer compared to 2025, and major categories including robberies, carjackings, auto theft, shootings, and burglaries also decreased

City officials credit crime reductions to proactive investments in the community, including this summer's 10-week Occupy the Summer program

Mayor Mary Sheffield and Police Chief Todd Bettison promise to continue collaboration among law enforcement, community groups, city agencies, and local youth

DETROIT - The city of Detroit saw a  far safer summer  this year compared to previous years, according to officials, with the city seeing reductions in all categories of major crimes - both violent and non-violent.

At a joint press conference held Monday inside the Adams Butzel Recreation Center, Detroit Mayor Mary Sheffield and Police Chief Todd Bettison touted the city's latest investments in violence intervention programs and youth support programming - such as the mayor's  Occupy the Summer  campaign - as contributing factors to the summer's record-low crime rates.

 From June to August, overall homicides dropped 25%, juvenile homicides were down 89% from last summer, and juvenile offenses also saw a reduction,  Sheffield said.  These are more than numbers - these are actual lives of our residents. Young people who were able to make it home; neighborhoods that felt a safer summer; less devastation and tragedy that neighborhoods and families had to experience this summer. 

Sheffield says the city's Occupy the Summer initiative marked a  historic investment  in the city's youth by providing children and teens with safe spaces and activities to occupy their time while school is out.

 Occupy the Summer was not a reactive approach to teen takeovers,  Sheffield said.  It was a proactive approach that we had been doing in the city for over 12 years, when I started on the Detroit City Council, and it is our way of saying that we cannot police our way out of crime, but we have to invest and support and provide opportunity for our young people. 

Approximately 15,000 local youth participated in Occupy the Summer events during 

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