The Washtenaw County Sheriff's Department is applauding its collaboration with the community during a public safety roundtable on Friday.

The meeting also marks the first six months of work for newly elected Sheriff Alyshia Dyer.

According to the sheriff's office, responses for violent crime, firearm offenses, and homicides are all trending down when comparing the first six months of 2025 to the first six months of 2024.

Violent crime responses are down 18% in parts of the county where the sheriff's office is the primary responder. That includes zero homicides after responding to seven between January and June of 2024. Responses to gun offenses are also down by nearly 50%, according to the department.

"Engage with the deputies in your communities. We want to have an ongoing dialogue with you because we want to be able to problem-solve. And not just for crime issues, but also for quality of life issues," said Washtenaw County Undersheriff Matt Harshberger.

They're crediting community violence intervention groups and a social work-first approach with much of the success, as they claim understaffing at all of their substations around the county.

"It really hurts my heart when you drive through communities and they say, 'Don't talk to the police because no one trusts us.' So, community engagement is about building that trust. Building that trust in our communities with our neighbors," said WCSO community engagement coordinator Commander Eugene Rush.

They say they're building more community trust by pulling over fewer drivers for minor, non-safety-related offenses as well.

"There are hundreds of reasons why officers can pull someone over. And so what we did is we used discretion to make sure the reason officers are pulling people over are for truly safety related reasons and not things like air freshener, crack in the windshield, license plate light out," said Dyer.

For those working alongside the sheriff's office in community violence intervention, they're also planning on opening up new funds so those organizations can continue to make an impact.