Detroit police chief: FBI is wrong. Detroit is not most violent city in U.S.

Newly released FBI statistics paint Detroit as the most dangerous big city in America.  

One former FBI chief suspects other cities cooked their numbers to rank better.

Police Chief James Craig says the FBI data is flat wrong.

"I reject it," Craig said of the FBI report on Monday, saying his own data using a new software system shows violent crime in Detroit went down 5% in 2016, and has been trending downward since 2013.

More: 2016 FBI crime statistics by U.S. city

The FBI's numbers tell a different story, showing that the number of violent crimes increased by 15.7% in Detroit between 2015 and 2016, from 11,346 to 13,705. Violent crimes included murders, rapes, assaults and robberies.

The city witnessed more murders last year than Los Angeles, which has nearly six times as many people, according to the new FBI crime figures. 

The jump in crime gave the Motor City the designation of No. 1 on the list of most violent cities in the U.S. with populations of more than 100,000. Behind Detroit, rounding out the top five most-violent big cities are St. Louis at No. 2 (it was No. 1 last year with Detroit in the No. 2 position), followed by Memphis, Baltimore and Rockford, according the FBI's 2016 Uniform Crime Report.

In comparison, Chicago, which in 2016 saw its deadliest year for homicides in decades, came in at No. 24 on the list.  Chicago had 763 murders in 2016 — more than double Detroit's 303 homicides — and more than 30,000 violent crimes. But with a population of 2.7 million people, about four times that of Detroit, Chicago's per capita crime rate was 1,105 crimes per 100,000 residents. Detroit's was twice that: 2,047.

That per capita rate is what gave Detroit the unfortunate No. 1 title.

Chief Craig at a news conference Monday — ironically held near the scene of police standoff with a man armed with a knife — contested the FBI's numbers, stating: "Just because it's coming out of the FBI" doesn't mean it's accurate. 

"I am confident the Detroit police crime statistics are very accurate," Craig said.

Andy Arena, Detroit's former FBI chief who now runs the Detroit Crime Commission, is equally skeptical about the FBI's data, saying he believes some cities "under-reported."

"I think there are cities out there who know how to play the game and rig the numbers," said Arena, who was especially alarmed to see that Chicago came in at No. 24 on the list, given its problem with violent crime.

"I'm shocked by that. How does that happen?," Arena said, stressing there's room for error in the FBI data.

"I've never personally been a big fan of those FBI reports," Arena said.

But, he conceded, Detroit does have a crime problem that needs more resources to fight.  

"it's a constant battle every day," Arena said. "There's still work to do."

Mayor Mike Duggan declined comment.

Among the numbers Craig took issue with were aggravated assaults, which he said is inflated by more than 1,000 in the FBI report. According to the FBI data, Detroit saw 9,882 assaults in 2016, but the DPD data says there were 8,916.

Here are some findings from the report:

Detroit saw 303 murders in 2016, compared to 295 the year before — a 3% increase.  In comparison, Los Angeles, which has 4 million people compared to Detroit's 669,000  — saw 295 murders in 2015. That's 8 fewer than Detroit.

Detroit, however, didn't have the highest murder rate. That title went to St. Louis, which had  a rate of 60 murders per 100,000 people in 2016. Baltimore was second with  a rate of 51 murders per 100,000. Detroit was third, with 45 murders per 100,000 residents.

In 2016, Detroit recorded 579 rapes; 9,882 aggravated assaults, and 2,941 robberies.

Craig said the FBI's numbers are off, largely because of an old computer system called CRISNET, which was replaced in December.  Here's how it used to work under the old system: Detroit police entered numbers into CRISNET. The numbers were picked up by the Michigan State Police, who reported them to the FBI.

Unfortunately, Craig explained, some crimes were double-reported under the old system — either through human error or because a crime was mischaracterized. For example, a crime looks like a murder, but turns out to be a suicide, he said. Or a robbery gets reported into the system, but another officer says it's a larceny. 

Craig said in the past, his agency alerted the FBI when it spotted a discrepancy, even when the numbers weren't in Detroit's favor. For example, he said, twice the FBI's numbers showed declines for aggravated assaults in Detroit, when there were actual increases.

"We were transparent and honest when they were under-reported," Craig said, adding "and now we want to do the same thing."

Craig said that DPD tried to alert the FBI about the mistake in assault numbers for 2016, but was told the reporting deadline had passed and that the CRISNET numbers would have to do.

"Over the last several years we've had a number of calls with the FBI and Michigan State Police. They know it," Craig said, stressing the new report that ranks Detroit as the most violent city is "very, very troubling."

But he did not dispute the FBI's homicide numbers for Detroit: 303 homicides in 2016, compared to 295 the year before.

"I've said oftentimes that 300 murders is still too high for a city of our population," Craig said. "But the key is — since 2013, we continue to trend downward."

Craig said Detroit's crime reporting system had been a thorn in his side since he took over as chief in 2013. But fortunately, he said, there's a new system in place that's been overseen by Wayne State University crime stat expert David Martin.

According to Craig, Martin scrubbed the old CRISNET system, fixed mistakes and plugged accurate numbers into the new system that shows a 5% decrease in violent crime. 

According to Craig, as of Monday, Detroit has seen 212 homicides this year, compared to 219 at this same time last year. Carjackings are also down for the same time period, as are robberies, nonfatal shootings and property crime, Craig said.

"Overall crime — as of Sept. 24 — is down 7%," Craig said, noting the department's goal is to reduce overall crime this year by 5%. "We just want to hold on so that we can keep our  numbers down." 

In releasing the statistics, the FBI cautioned against ranking cities, stating: "These rough rankings provide no insight into the numerous variables that mold crime in a particular town, city, county, state, tribal area, or region. Consequently, they lead to simplistic and/or incomplete analyses that often create misleading perceptions adversely affecting communities and their residents."

Nationwide, violent crimes also went up for the second consecutive year. According to the FBI data, the number of violent crimes rose 4.1% in 2016 from the year before. On the flip side, property crimes dropped 1.3% in 2016,  marking the 14th straight year for a decrease  in that crime category.

The FBI's data is based on crimes reported by law enforcement agencies. Of the 18,481 agencies eligible to participate in the project, 16,782 submitted data in 2016. 

Here are some findings:

• In 2016, the nation saw 1.2 million violent crimes.
• Murder and non-negligent manslaughter offenses increased 8.6% from 2015 - 2016.
• Aggravated assault and rapes offenses increased 5.1% and 4.9%, respectively, and robbery increased 1.2%.
• Nationwide, there were an estimated 7,919,035 property crimes.  Burglaries dropped 4.6%, larceny-thefts declined 1.5%, but motor vehicle thefts rose 7.4%.
• Law enforcement agencies nationwide made 10.7 million arrests, excluding those for traffic violations, in 2016.