(The Center Square) – The Detroit Police Department is seeking a $22 million increase to its budget in 2024, citing an increase in violent crime.
The budget, proposed by Mayor Mike Duggan, would total $389 million, up from $366 million in fiscal year 2023.
Most of that funding increase, about $13.5 million, would fund a bump in salaries and wages, while another $10 million would fund employee benefits. Meanwhile, planned operation costs in 2024 would drop by about $6 million.
Chief James White says homicides are up 17% year to date, while they’ve seen a 32% spike in vehicle thefts year-to-date.
Duggan also proposed Detroit spend $10 million for a community violence intervention program called ShotStoppers, funded by federal money through the American Rescue Plan.
“DPD [Detroit Police Department] doesn’t have the power to take the anger out of people’s hearts,” Duggan said during his 10th State of the City address. “So we’re giving violence prevention groups a chance to work with us to prevent violence.”
DPD has about 389 open positions. They’re also hiring civilians to fill some positions as the department restructures. White said that police officer pay raises approved last fall totaling $26 million have helped recruitment, including luring some people back to the department from other jobs or even out of retirement.
“Recruiting is just something we’re very, very focused on," White said.
White said they’ve seen an increase in selling illegal weed, despite weed being legal statewide.
“They’re creating some different potencies,” White said. “And then we’ve got our youth violence that these young kids are emulating behaviors that they’re seeing from previous gang members.”
Proposed staffing changes for the new budget include nearly doubling the narcotics enforcement funding from $20.9 million in fiscal year 2023 to $41.9 million in fiscal year 2024.
The homicide team funding would increase by about $2 million, while the records and identification team would drop from $13.5 million to $2 million. Also, the cost human resources would increase by $12.4 million.
“Our problem with our gangs is youth, impulse decision making, and illegal weed sales,” White said. “That’s the three-tier approach that we’re looking at disrupting.”
In fiscal year 2022, DPD responded to more than 298,000 runs and hired 188 people.
