GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — There have been seven homicides in Grand Rapids so far in 2024. There were zero homicides in July.
“Crime is down in Grand Rapids," Grand Rapids Police Chief Eric Winstrom said.
FOX 17 took to downtown Grand Rapids during a "Relax at Rosa" Thursday to get people's thoughts.
“I wasn’t really surprised. I just find that Grand Rapids is a wonderful place to live. It happens on occasion but not a lot,” Kent County resident Shirley DeYoung said.
People were resting easy enjoying the day.
“We’ve seen the lowest number of murders in many years,” Winstrom said.
Grand Rapids Police Chief Eric Winstrom says he has theories about why we're seeing less severe crime. He also added that youth crime and stolen car rates are also down, crediting that success to great relationships with the nonprofit sector and the prosecutor's office.
“Because of the intentionality of so many people working in this space, especially in supporting our youth, I think that we’ve seen those numbers turn around because children have other things to do,” Winstrom said.
The folks that call Grand Rapids home say the news comes as no surprise.
“If you look at the data, it all shows that things are becoming a bit safer. [It] might not seem that way because of what you see on the news or online. But it’s the case and, you know, the data,” resident Brad Jankalski said.
The chief says seven lives lost is still seven too many.
“But when you’re talking about seven humans that lost their lives, including two 15-year-olds, we don’t want to minimize that. But we want to say that our efforts are definitely driving the city in the right direction,” Winstrom said.
You can view Grand Rapids' crime data at the city's provided dashboard here.
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