DETROIT – After one year of community violence intervention, otherwise known as CVI, the City of Detroit is seeing a major decrease in violent crime in the most dangerous parts of the city.
- Shootings in non-CVI zones: -35%
- New Era Zone (6 and Greenfield): -37%
- Detroit 300 Zone (5 and Southfield): -47%
- Force Detroit Zone (Warrendale): -52%
- Wayne Metro Zone (Denby): -61%
- People’s Community Zone (HFHS): -73%
- Friends and Family (7 and Gratiot): -83%
“To see violence reductions up to 83%, the lives that have been saved, the families that have been protected by these groups is remarkable,” said Mayor Mike Duggan. “We tried something that nobody else tried. We said that you have a defined territory, and you’re gonna be held accountable for the shootings going up and down your territory and each of them has succeeded. They now know where the hotspots are, where the trouble hotspots are, where the gang gathering places are.”
In terms of violent crime overall -- the numbers are dramatically different now from what we saw from 2018-22. Out of all the cities trying this in the United States, Detroit is doing the best in terms of violence reduction. The program was introduced by then deputy mayor, now interim police chief, Todd Bettison, who is proud to see the progress being made.
“Success means we’re saving lives. That’s what’s so key about this. As you can see, we rode it out. I believed in it. I knew community violence intervention worked,” Bettison said. “I wanted to make sure that we gave it enough resources.”
Made possible with a $10 million investment from President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan Act, the city is working to find funding elsewhere with new legislation to make way for expansion.
“I’m really hopeful that the legislation is going to act quickly to pass the public safety trust through the senate and then we’re gonna add more areas in the city,” Duggan added.
Minister Freedom -- with the People’s Community -- works with just one of six CVI groups doing what they call community policing to stop violence in their own communities, where crime is starting to decrease with every quarter.
“We don’t mind putting our lives on the line when we know we’re saving lives. We’re saving the lives of the youth that we work with It’s really humbling. It’s empowering to know that we started with just a plan and strategy and now here we are with a full working machine,” said Minister Freedom.
But it all starts with just the little things like community interaction.
“If you can feed someone, it sounds crazy, but it could kinda slow down the violence around you if you just have resources just to be available for people,” said Tyrel Goldsby, also with The People’s Community.
Each group receives a base budget of $175K per quarter. But they can earn up to $175K more depending on how much crime is reduced. All of it was partly derived from the Shot Stopper program, created by Bettinson.
“Each quarter we’ve published the results and it’s gotten better and better and better,” said Bettison.
Bettison believes the city’s 2024 data will be even better than the latest data, which reflected a 57-year low in terms of homicides within the city.
“But more importantly, next year we’re gonna keep on plugging away because it’s still too many homicides and nonfatal shootings, it’s too much violence still,” Bettison insisted.
Based on program results so far, Duggan has extended the program for another year.