Crime in the US is once again falling. Can we rethink policing? | Simon Balto

The way we approach public safety is nonsensical - crime ebbs and flows, yet spending on law enforcement only ever goes up

Reports on 2023 in the United States are in, and a banner one is this: crime plummeted last year.

According to the New York Times, citing FBI data, Detroit recorded its lowest murder figures in roughly half a century; homicides and shootings in Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and most other major cities dropped precipitously; and car thefts were the only serious" criminal category that didn't see notable drop-offs over the course of the calendar year. In Minneapolis - which, after the police murder of George Floyd, became the epicenter in 2020 of the largest wave against racial injustice since the civil rights movement - homicides reportedly fell by 9% last year, gun violence by roughly a quarter, and carjackings by half.