DETROIT, MI — There's good news on the Detroit crime horizon, says Police Chief James Craig.

This year, the city has 16 percent fewer homicides than it did by the same date in 2012.

The current figure, 262, is more than 40 fewer than in 2012.

Additionally, violent crime is down a total of 6 percent. The reduction is 5.5 percent when property crimes are included.

Work within the community, Operation Restore, the CeaseFire crime reduction effort, redeployment of officers, a boost in morale with the change back to 8-hour shifts, a "whole host of things" are credited with the reduction, Craig said. "I'm excited."

Although it's not been updated since August, the department offers crime statistics on this city website and CrimeMapping.com.

Detroit with 707,096 residents and 15,011 violent crimes in 2012 ranked second highest, per capita, behind Flint as the most violent city in the nation.