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good afternoon
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everyone I want to thank President Biden
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for the tremendous honor of being here
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today and inviting me once again to the
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White House it is my pleasure to be able
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to talk to you about the crime
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reductions in Detroit and I look forward
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to hearing from my colleagues about
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their crime reductions as
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well in Detroit collaboration is our
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strength it's the biggest reasons for
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our crime reduction uh the support of
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our Mayor Mike Dugen with his leadership
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on negotiations that gave our officers a
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$10,000 raise uh to the strategies that
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he deployed uh post pandemic bringing
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Partners to the table to reopen our
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courts many of us saw our courts closed
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down as a result of co uh cases were
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backlogged uh and it was through his
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leadership and our Partnerships that we
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were able uh to get our courts back open
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and work collaboratively to get cases
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prosecuted
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our us attorney Don eison has been a
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tremendous partner to us our one Detroit
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initiative has focused on reducing crime
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in the most violent neighborhoods in
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Detroit while providing resources to
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better the quality of life for for our
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most vulnerable
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residents our Deputy Mayor Todd bettison
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who leads our City's Innovative
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Community violence initiative which is
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our CVI the program is called shot
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Stoppers shot Stoppers which is reported
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by the American Rescue plan dollars
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while early the CVI has shown promise
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and we look forward to seeing the impact
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that CV will have accompanied with our
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strategies on crime to further reduce
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crime our Partnerships with our local
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state federal Partners our prosecutor
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our Wayne County Executive our Sheriff
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our judges our state police and
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certainly ATF and
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FBI our American Rescue plan funds have
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been a tremendous game Cher for Detroit
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is it's helped us reach these historic
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lows in crime uh we've got an 18%
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reduction in homicides our lowest since
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1966 last year a 16% reduction in
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non-fatal shootings a 34% reduction in
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carjackings our American Rescue funds
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have helped us re retrain officers to
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develop our training center to bring
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state-of-the-art training to our
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officers and to build bridges in our
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community by looking at Best Practices
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around the country and deploying those
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best best practices in the city of
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Detroit our investments in crime
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fighting tools such as new Patrol
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Vehicles dedicated to gun violence uh
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allowing officers to respond to these
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crimes in progress and often times in
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less than five minutes after receiving
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the
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call our quality of life
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issues blight and abandoned vehicles uh
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we've used our American Rescue funds to
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purchase speed signs we are seeing an
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uptick in our community with drag racing
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and drifting and speeding through our
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neighborhoods and they have been
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valuable for us uh deploying in our
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communities uh to help combat those
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problems new job opportunities we've
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hired a number of different new jobs
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that allows us to use civilian
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professionals analysts
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directors that were otherwise being
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filled by police officers we're able to
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put those officers on the street and use
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those civilian professionals to fill
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those those roles but something that's
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near and dear to my heart as a trained
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mental health professional myself is our
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mental health co-response
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Co brought something that we never
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thought we would see in law enforcement
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and that is a tremendous uptick in
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Mental Health crisis our mental health
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co-response working with train and
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licensed mental health professionals
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allows us to put a police officer who is
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trained on the street with an actual
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mental health professional to Aid and
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assist us in responding to Those runs in
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addition to that we have a mental health
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professional in our 9911 Dispatch Center
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that's able to give immediate services
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to those folks when they call in and
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they're in
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Crisis City of Detroit handled 14,000
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mental health runs in 2023 and we are
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now looking at approximately 38 runs per
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day so we're on track to hit that number
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again our mental health co-response unit
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works
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collaboratively with our Mental Health
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Training Center uh and handling Those
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runs 2024 we're building on that success
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but let me be clear we are not declaring
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Victory against Crime we still have way
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too many guns in our community way too
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much violent crime in our community but
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we're going to continue to work
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collaboratively with our partners to
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further reduce crime in 2024 already uh
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as of yesterday we are looking at an 18%
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reduction in homicides for 2024 as
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opposed to last year this time 30%
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reduction in non-fatal shootings a 47%
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reduction in carjackings and we are f
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focus on building on the progress that
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we've already had U we're going to
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continue to work in our communities we
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will be deploying a program called serve
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them protect where every single officer
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that comes through the Detroit Police
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Academy will work a community service
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program in our neighborhoods whether it
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be a footbe program whether it be aiding
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a senior uh before they can Patrol in a
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scout car super excited about that
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program and we're going to continue to
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expand our mental health co-response we
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are all grateful for the support of our
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partners at the White House thank you on
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behalf of every member of the city of
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Detroit's Police Department I thank you
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sir we work to reduce crime and improve
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Public Safety and we're going to
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continue now it is my pleasure to
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introduce the 46th president of the
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United States President Joe Biden good
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job thank
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[Applause]
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you chief White thank you for the
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introduction and you know uh every day
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you and your fellow officers put on that
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Shield walk out the door and your
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family's worry about receiving that
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phone call but uh thank you for your
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service and I mean this sincerely your
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sacrifice and sacrifice of that of your
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families not just you your families as
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well and thanks to the law enforcement
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and Community leaders here today who
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have helped bring down violent crime
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rates in their cities to Historic lows
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that's right we're uh we're about to
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talk about what's going to happen
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now you know you just heard from the
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chief and the salute these cities are
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making historic progress here last year
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the United States had one of the lowest
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rates of all violent crime of all
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violent crimes in more than 50 years
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murder rape murder rape aggravated
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assault robbery all dropped sharply
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along with burglary property crime and
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theft and it matters as president Public
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Safety Public Safety and crime reduction
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is a top priority for my Administration
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and for me and has been for a long time
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back when I was chairman of Judiciary
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Committee you know uh since day one my
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Administration been working with law
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enforcement Mayors and Community leaders
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to do what we know Works to keep people
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in community safe as was referenced
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during the pandemic states and cities
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solv violent crime rising and their
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budgets were strained as they fac deep
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Cuts in law enforcement of Public Safety
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but we stepped up thanks to my American
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Rescue plan which I might note not a
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single per person on the other team
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voted for uh we provided $350 billion
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$350 billion that was available to deal
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with these issues you know and uh the
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fact is that uh we found ourselves he
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could use it to this money to keep law
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enforcement on the beat Community safe
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from violence we invested $5 billion $15
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billion to make their Community safer
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and we added billions more in Grants to
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help the justice department invested in
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law enforcement and Community violence
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Interruption programs because the
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American Rescue plan we have the largest
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Federal investment in fighting crime and
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preventing violent crime in any time in
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our history and that's a big deal you
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know we're we know being in law
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enforcement is harder than ever but uh
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and we expect you to be everything to
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everybody that's why we've invested in
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more crisis responders who work
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alongside police officers as Chief said
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mental health and social workers who
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respond to non-violent crimes as well
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more investment in recruiting retaining
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and training officers more investments
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in violent prevention to get guns off
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the street and on top of that we're
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hiring more us attorneys recruiting more
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US Marshals and investing more in
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technology and training to clear the
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Court backlogs solve murders and deal
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with apprehending violent fugitives and
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we're also working hard to ensure bonds
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of trust between officers and the people
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you all serve my budget calls for more
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officers in the street trained and
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community policing walking the beat
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working hard hand inand with Community
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leaders and partners and public to gain
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public trust in advanced Public Safety
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the Chiefs in this room know that when
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their communities trust the police we
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can a hell of a lot more crimes a hell
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of a lot faster that's why I signed the
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historic executive order to advance
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executive and accountable community
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policing and uh it's very effective so
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far you know and I'm going to continue
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to call on Congress to pass the George
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Floyd policing and Justice the justice
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of policing act so we can make police
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reform the law of the land we also made
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historic investments in proven
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strategies to interrupt and prevent
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crime and violence in the first place
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these programs use Trust and Messengers
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including people people who are in the
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neighborhood people who have have been
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incarcerated and released now people who
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have been through it people who know
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what they're talking about and we have a
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track record of reducing violent crime
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as a consequence of that by 30 to 60%
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where those programs exist and finally
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my plan goes after the scourge of gun
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violence in America I've taken more
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executive actions to stop the flow of
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illegal guns than any other
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Administration in history
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and we beat the NRA when I signed the
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most significant gun safety law in
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nearly 30 years and we're going to
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finish the job we're going to ban
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assault weapons and high-capacity
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magazines next time around because it
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has to be done I formed the uh the first
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ever White House gun violence White
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House Office of gun violence prevention
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and I thank vice president Harris for
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overseeing this important effort all let
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me close with this our plan's working
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but we still have much more to do as
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everyone at this table knows and that's
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why we're here today my Administration
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is going to choose progress over
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politics and communities across the
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country are safer as a result of that
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policy there is no greater
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responsibility than ensure the safety of
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families children communities and our
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nation and with that I want to turn this
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over to ner Tandon my domestic policy
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advisor will get this discussion going
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okay thank
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you thank thank you I would like to
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invite the press to exit before we start
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our discussion
