Detroit Homicide Investigations in Sorry State

Recently, the Detroit Free Press reported that the success of homicide investigations in Detroit is at an all time low:

According to the most recent statistics, Detroit police arrested a suspect in one of every three homicide cases in 2005, a stark decline from previous years and far below other major U.S. cities and the nation's average.

Also well below the average is Detroit's 1-in-3 ratio for clearing homicides -- that is, in charging or identifying the killer.

Experts cite the apparent end of police dragnets, the illegal practice of rounding up large groups of potential witnesses and suspects for questioning, for much of the drop in arrests.

But the experts also blame a homicide section decimated by budget cuts, more drug-related slayings in which witnesses are less likely to talk and slipshod handling of evidence and investigative files in several high-profile cases.

This article caught my eye for a couple of reasons. First, being a native metro-Detroiter, I am always saddened by the (often, but not always, deservedly) bad press the city receives. This story is no exception. Combined with Detroit's history of sitting at or near the top of the most-murders-per-capita list, news of dwindling homicide clearance rates is a one-two punch of bad news for the city, and for the DPD in particular.

Second, having spent many, many hours (along with Scooby and others) coding homicide files at the DPD headquarters, I was struck by the article's description of the DPD homicide unit's decline, both in number of officers and in prestige:

Once acknowledged among America's investigative elite, Detroit homicide cops were invited to help solve the notorious Atlanta child killings of the late 1970s and early '80s, and were portrayed as shrewd sleuths in Hollywood films and books by Elmore Leonard.

But in recent years, the downsized unit has suffered humiliating setbacks, many self-inflicted. It has lost or mislaid reports and files, been implicated in bogus confessions and has seen the demise of the discredited dragnets.

Finally, I have mentioned before my obsession with The First 48, a program upon which the DPD homicide unit regularly is featured. I am continually chagrined by the decrepit conditions of the Detroit facilities compared with those in Miami, Memphis, Dallas, etc. As Scoob and I unwittingly learned firsthand, for years the DPD homicide unit lacked basic amenities like an interrogation room in which to question suspects. Although, as the article notes, the DPD recently "yielded to years of accusations that it coerced confessions by agreeing to record the interrogation of murder suspects at its new high-tech facility in the former Second Precinct station."

Here's hoping that the new, improved facility will help boost homicide clearance rates in the coming year. While we wait for the 2008 statistics to reveal whether or not that's the case, I'll be keeping an eye on things when the new season of The First 48 premieres January 10th.