DETROIT, MI

— Violent crime in Detroit decreased 10 percent in 2011,

released this week show.

However, Detroit, on the cusp of cutting 380 previously budgeted police beginning in July, remains the second most violent city in the nation,

for the second year running.

St. Louis, Oakland and Memphis rounded out the top five behind Detroit, based on the preliminary 2011 FBI Uniform Crime Report statistics for cities with populations in excess of 100,000.

Detroit had 2,137 violent crimes for every 100,000 residents in 2011, compared to 2,379 per 100,000 the year prior. Flint recorded 2,337 violent crimes per 100,000 people in 2011.

Detroit police last year reported 15,245 violent crimes — 427 rapes, 344 murders, 4,962 robberies and 9,512 aggravated assaults — compared to 16,972 violent crimes in 2010, FBI stats show.

Detroit's 10 percent violent crime decrease last year surpasses

, reported by the FBI.

At a Detroit Police Northeastern District community meeting at Butzel Family Center Tuesday, some of the 50 residents in attendance said they don't see evidence of the statistical decline seeping into their neighborhoods.

"I'll tell you, I look at it as a small Vietnam, because you walk out in the street, you don't know if you'll come home or not," said Bill Welborne, 77, a Vietnam War veteran and president of the Detroit police community relations program. "There's no respect by the youth... Some kids are good, but the perception is, I'm not going to make it... I'm going to be dead by the time I'm 30 so I'm going to do what I want to do."

Welborne, a Detroit resident since he was 6, lives on Detroit's west side and said he's further concerned about the impact upcoming police cuts may have on future violent crime in the city.

The proposed 2012-2103 city budget cuts police spending by about $74 million, or 18 percent compared to the previous year's budget, which equates to an expected loss of about 380 officers.

Detroit Police Northeastern District Commander Eric Ewing, also present at the community meeting, said he hadn't seen and couldn't comment on the the FBI statistics but affirmed that his officers are working proactively to combat crime and he believes their efforts will continue to yield decreases.

"We're working hard every day to stop the crime," he said. "We have seen some drops in crime in our district and there's been certain spikes in the district too.

"The officers are out there working diligently every day to make sure they keep the citizens of Detroit safe."

Ella Gamble, 66, who moved into her family's home in 1974 and now owns it attended the meeting with long-time friend and neighbor Pat Johnson, 59, who moved into her current home in 1983.

The pair own homes on Drexel between Chandler Park and East Warren and share Welborne's concern about further police reductions.

"I believe (criminals) are acting up because they know there aren't any cops out here," said Johnson, who's installed bars on her doors and windows for increased protection after a break-in.

"They don't seem to do the patrolling like they used to," Gamble added. "We need to see more police riding in out neighborhood.

They have no plans to move from the homes — they both own their houses outright, they said — but Johnson and Gamble yearn for the past, a time when Johnson said the neighborhood, now riddled with drug activity, gun play and unruly gatherings, was "beautiful."

Both women noted the increasingly vacant homes in the neighborhood, now empty due to foreclosure and abandonment, have become eyesores that seem to be a magnet for unwanted drug and other undesired activity.

"I've joined everything I know to join to beautify" the neighborhood "but it doesn't seem to be helping any," Gamble said. "My worst fear is that "the neighborhood is going to be defeated.

"And I give it a couple years or so."

The 10 most violent cities, according to the preliminary FBI statistics: