DES MOINES, Iowa — As 2023 nears an end, homicide rates are lower in Des Moines this year compared to last.
However, the Des Moines Police Department said a lower homicide rate doesn't necessarily mean safer streets.
From the Starts Right Here shooting at the beginning of the year to the stabbing of a woman in November, there have been 13 homicides in the city this year, a drop from the 21 that happened in 2022.
However, Des Moines Police Sgt. Paul Parizek said homicide rates are not a good gauge of violent crime, because while homicide rates were down this year, the average number of shootings per month rose.
Parizek said DMPD looks at how many guns they are getting off the streets and how many violent offenders they are putting into jail each year.
"That's what the police department can do to impact those violent crime numbers. If we know that there are people out there, gang members, drug dealers, whoever, using guns to commit these crimes ... if we can get them off the street, get those guns out of their hands, we're definitely going to make safer neighborhoods,” he said.
The department has been successful this year, Parizek added.
"A majority of these folks are repeat offenders,” he said. “And with the resources that we have dedicated to it and the support we have from the courts, we had a pretty successful year when it comes to getting a lot of those dangerous people out of our neighborhoods."
Parizek said this year, DMPD is keeping pace with last year's record number of guns seized. In 2022, DMPD recovered over 730 guns off the streets.
Of those 730, 32 were recovered from people 17 years old and younger.
Parizek attributes local hospitals as one of the reasons there have been fewer homicides. He noted the medical crews in Des Moines have saved a lot of lives as many people who survived would not have without the quick response from doctors.
Here’s a breakdown of the number of homicides in Des Moines every year since 2017:
Des Moines Homicides By Year
- 2023: 13
- 2022: 21
- 2021: 14
- 2020: 21
- 2019: 14
- 2018: 13
- 2017: 25