Violent crime in Detroit is on the decline, but police are dealing with a growing mental health crisis, Detroit Police Chief James White told Mayor Mike Duggan during a conversation at the Mackinac Policy Conference this week.
White has created a mental health unit within the police force, where unarmed, ununiformed officers make mental health patrols and try to de-escalate situations before they escalate into violence. They do carry weapons, but White said they are generally “less lethal weapons.”
White said the police department has also begun building a database of people with mental illnesses who frequently come into contact with police, and that emergency calls about such people will be handled by trained civilian professionals.
“So when a family member calls 911 and says, ‘my loved one is in crisis,’ we have a mental health professional there who can immediately begin the triage process,” White said.
White said he formed the unit not only for public safety, but also for the safety of officers. “Because we know we have fewer officers,” White said. “We’ve had officers shot. We’ve had officers killed by people who are part of the police force. [a] A mental health crisis. So this was just a way to do something different.”
White said the program is promising, but suggested more support is needed from state and federal governments, including funding for long-term care facilities for people with severe mental illness and those experiencing mental health crises in prisons and jails.
Detroit, like other major U.S. cities, has seen a significant decline in violent crime since the start of 2023 after a COVID pandemic-era surge. “Drug-related shootings are [and] “Gang-related shootings have declined dramatically,” the city said, but interpersonal violence and violence resulting from mental health issues persist.
Last year, Detroit police received more than 15,000 mental health-related calls, about 1,500 of which involved potentially violent individuals — the equivalent of 25 to 30 such calls a week, Duggan said.
White, a trained mental health counselor, said working with individuals and families in crisis is now a primary and routine part of his job. “We could never have predicted the impact that the mental health system has had on policing, the issues that we’re dealing with and the issues that we’re facing,” White said.
