There were 24 murders in Grand Rapids last year. Police chief Eric Winstrom says that is 2 more than in 2022.
“We did see an uptick from the past two years we have solved 12 of the 24 murders so that puts us at 50 percent so far of course that rate will go up.”
Winstrom says there were 50 fewer armed robberies in 2023, one reason, he says more businesses have installed video surveillance systems. And he says car theft is down…owner precautions and security updates are helping keep thieves away from Kias.
“Auto theft totals, some good news for 2023, we have fallen from the spike we saw in 22 we saw with the Kia and Hundai craze. Lot of that has to do with enforcement, lot has to do with education too as well as co-operation with the auto companies themselves.”
Winstrom says the number of aggravated assaults are about the same year to year. On a positive note, he says so far no murders in 2024.
“Which is excellent. I would love to take credit for it but a lot of it has to do with the weather.”
