Homicides pick up pace in Detroit

When presidential hopeful U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich said Sunday that there were 300 homicides in Detroit in September, maybe he meant to offer that figure for the year.

That's one shy of the unofficial number of homicides in the city through Friday -- 301.

As of Oct. 24 last year, there were 319 homicides, which shows that Detroit's chance at making history for its lowest homicide toll in 36 years is slipping.

The numbers show that the city is no longer on pace to finish the year with 312 homicides as proudly announced by law enforcement officials in July, when there were 156 homicides through June 30 -- down from 196 the previous year. In 1967, the homicide toll was 281.

Through June 30, the city was averaging 0.86 killings per day; through Friday it was averaging 1.01 killings per day. Police say it's hard to quantify why the killings have increased -- 145 since June 30.

Kucinich, an Ohio Democrat, drew media attention Sunday night by a major gaffe when he announced in a nationally televised presidential debate that Detroit had sustained 300 homicides in September.

On Monday, he called the misstatement an honest mistake.

"I'm not perfect," Kucinich told the Free Press. "If I make a misstatement, I have no hesitation to admit it and correct it."

Kucinich said he corrected the figure twice during the debate.

"I know Detroit has worked mightily on issues of public safety," he said. "I wanted to make it clear that the problem of violence in our cities is a problem that affects every city in America. In Detroit, neighborhood groups have been working to do something about it."

Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's camp didn't take the mistake lightly.

"You don't know who's turning on or turning off the TV when that comment is made," Kilpatrick spokesman Howard Hughey said Monday. "The damage is done."

But Clementine Barfield, the founder of Save Our Sons and Daughters nonviolence advocacy group, said 30-plus homicides in a month is too much, regardless of Kucinich's mistake. Kucinich met with Barfield's organization Sunday during a forum on curbing violence in the city.

Barfield informed the congressman that there were 35 homicides in Detroit in September -- statistics she says her office obtained from the police logs a few weeks ago.

On Monday, Detroit Police Homicide Inspector Marilyn Hall-Beard said there were actually 33 homicides in September.

Beard said police originally responded to a car accident and suicide as homicides in September, but changed their classifications when the investigations were completed.

Barfield said too many Detroiters don't want to acknowledge the street violence and killings.

"Let us stop trying to hide the fact that we have a high homicide rate," said Barfield, whose 16-year-old son Derick was slain in 1986. "We're still averaging more than one killing a day. That's real."

Detroit police statistics also don't jibe with the Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office. The office reported 412 homicides in Detroit last year, while the Police Department listed 402.

So far this year, the Medical Examiner's Office listed 322 homicides through Friday, while the Police Department listed 301.

The discrepancy is because the medical examiner classifies any instance where someone takes the life of another as a homicide. Detroit police sometimes do not categorize cases of self-defense or what they consider justified killings as homicides.

"There are also different things that can happen in the court system that can change figures for the police department," said Steve Brown, director of administration for the Medical Examiner's Office.

Meanwhile, overall crime figures for 2002 were down from the previous year, according to the Michigan State Police, which released statewide crime data for 2002 on Monday.

Among the decreases were a 7.59-percent reduction in robbery and a 4.23-percent reduction in property crime, according to an annual analysis of crime data submitted by local law enforcement agencies.

The Detroit Police Department's 2002 annual report shows violent crimes of homicide, rape, robbery and aggravated assault dropped from 24,427 in 1998 to 19,940 in 2002.

There were some increases statewide. Rape was up 2.1 percent and homicide was up 1.67 percent to 671 homicides last year.