A White House official is praising Detroit police for using the Rescue Plan Act to reduce crime

The White House’s top domestic policy official has touted the Detroit Police Department as a national model for using American Rescue Plan Act funds for crime-reduction tools, and city officials say the investments have helped reduce violent crime.

Domestic policy adviser Neera Tanden visited police headquarters on Wednesday to see the department’s purchased helicopter and scout cars, as well as the Real-Time Crime Center. While giving Tanden a tour of the equipment, Chief James White said the vehicles are used by the department’s code enforcement team and civilian employees who respond to low-level service calls that focus on “quality of life” and can write a few citations.

The real-time crime center allows the department to monitor live intelligence data such as information from ShotSpotter, a gunshot detection system used in some areas of Detroit, and surveillance footage from Project Green Light, a collaboration with private companies and apartment building owners.

“Detroit has really been at the forefront of using these dollars effectively,” Tanden said during a news conference Wednesday. She said the Real-Time Crime Center “does truly cutting-edge work… to provide DPD with the best-trained police force in the country.”

Detroit spent about $28.2 million of the $48.8 million in ARPA funds received for public safety, according to a plaque on the city’s website.

Mayor Mike Duggan said during a news conference that in 2023, the city will see its lowest number of homicides since 1966 – 252.

He pointed to the use of newly installed cameras on highways to record car shootings when the perpetrators committed shootings outside the range of city surveillance cameras. Duggan also said the Police Department has begun using a helicopter to track and stop illegal racing, an alternative to dangerous high-speed chases to apprehend drivers. As a result, drag racing and drift racing are down significantly from two years ago, he said.

“You saw very little last summer. We change behavior through tactics,” Duggan said.

However, the rates used as crime indicators are usually inaccurate measures of actual crime. Data sources such as calls for service, arrests and police reports are influenced by many factors other than the actual number of crimes committed, such as police resources, priorities and willingness to report crimes.

White said the department is looking at “a little bit of everything” to understand what’s likely happening with crime.

“We know that if we use data to tell us where we need to be at a certain time, we will be more successful, which will enable us to deploy in a place that has the potential to change behavior,” White said. “We don’t have to make an arrest, but we do review the data every day.”

___________

Visit detroitnews.com.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.