KALAMAZOO, Mich. — Violent crime in the United States fell by an estimated one percent in 2021, according to data released by the FBI.
That trend is also being seen in Kalamazoo where violent crime is down 10% for 2022.
The Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety said crime is trending in the right direction, but there is still concern especially when it comes to youth-involved incidents.
"We’re starting to see some positive trends, and really, the numbers really started going down, as we got through late August," said Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety Acting Chief David Boysen.
Boysen said those numbers continued to drop into the fall as well, even lower than what they see during their slower winter months.
"A lot of our strategies that we've put in place are with the community, working together and partnerships. All these partnerships we've developed over the last several years, they’re really starting to pay off," said Boysen.
He added those numbers are trending in the right direction, as they continue to drop in all of the crime sectors.
"We’re down 10% in violent crime, down 2% in property crime, and the big thing is we're down 14% in assaults with firearms. Aggravated assaults are down 14%, and the most significant drop is stolen cars were down 33%," said Boysen.
Boysen said their biggest challenge in 2022 was dealing with the age group of people committing those crimes.
"It’s our 14, 15, 16 and 17 year olds that are engaging in that behavior, and we're having a hard time getting ahead of that, because there's less sanctions for the youth," said Boysen.
Thankfully, Boysen said they know who majority of those youth are, and it's a small group. He added the department will continue to push and use the programs that have done them good in the past.
"What we found in Kalamazoo, just like in many other places, you have a lot of different groups that are doing the same thing, but they're not doing it together, so we're bringing those groups together, so we can all do a cohesive strategy to address our youth," said Boysen.
Going into the next year, Boysen believes they can really get ahead of the crime issues, especially as they follow through with additional plans for gun violence intervention. This comes as assaults and assaults with firearms remained a top concern among youth violence.
KDPS said improving community partnerships and working with other nonprofits to expand their gun violence intervention should prove to be very helpful in 2023.
