In 1986, there were more violent crimes in the US than had ever been recorded in a calendar year.

The murder rates in Chicago, New York, Washington, D.C., and a bunch more places all spiked by double digits.

But in the papers and on the TV news, it was Detroit that got branded the worst of the worst.

There are some who called Detroit the murder capital of the nation.

This summer has been especially violent with more than 500 shootings reported in two months.

You better look behind your back because you all know when somebody's going to... than 500 shootings reported in two months.

You better look behind your back

because you don't know when somebody gonna jump you or

try to shoot or kill you anything.

Detroit had 648 homicides in 1986. The highest per capita murder rate of any major American city.

It seemed like every time you turn around someone was getting killed.

That's Fred Bell, as a patrol officer. someone was getting killed.

That's Fred Bell, as a patrol officer on Detroit's northwest side.

He saw deep poverty and the destruction wrought by heroin and crack cocaine. They had teenagers, young kids 14 and below, selling drugs.

If they can't go home to a mill, they're going to do what they have to do.

If you've never lived it, it's sort of hard to understand it.

People getting beat up, home invasions, and the murders.

Georgiele Muirhead was Detroit's director of public information.

It was her job to build up the city when so many others were tearing it down.

She thought the press sensationalized violence in Detroit and pathologized its majority black

residents.

But she didn't believe the crime wave was a media myth.

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