Benton Harbor sees sharp decline in violent crimes

BENTON HARBOR, Mich – The city of Benton Harbor has seen a sharp decline in violent crimes, specifically burglaries and robberies in the month of March.  

There were zero burglaries and zero robberies in the city of Benton Harbor in the month of March. 

“I was shocked which is kind of strange all the stuff that I do and information that I push and numbers I see and to sit down and look at it in writing it’s like wow just wow,” Benton Harbor Director of Public Safety Daniel McGinnis said. 

At the beginning of the decade Benton Harbor had 319 burglaries and at that same point the city had 54 robberies. 

Benton Harbor resident Malcolm Butler says these positive crime numbers have an impact on the community. 

“I done been broken into at least three times myself and it’s a nice change and I hope the city keeps calm, keep this peaceful way,” Benton Harbor resident Malcolm Butler said. 

McGinnis says he hopes these low crime number becomes the new normal.

“The new normal is people walking around communicating with their neighbors looking out for each other when they see something say something,” McGinnis said. 

Police say these numbers are hard to maintain but the goal is to continue heading in the right direction in the future.