Miami-Dade County has seen a significant drop in homicides over the past five years, with dramatic reductions in historically high-crime ZIP codes demonstrating the impact of coordinated public safety strategies, according to a new analysis by Scaling Safety — a joint effort by the Alliance for Safety and Justice and CBPS Collective.
Two ZIP codes, 33147 (Liberty City) and 33142, have led the county’s homicide decline between 2020 and 2024. Liberty City, once considered the county’s most lethal area, saw homicides drop from 31 in 2020 to just 5 in 2024 — an 83% decrease. In one year alone, between 2023 and 2024, homicides fell 72%, moving the ZIP code from the top of the county’s violent rankings to 10th place. ZIP code 33142, which covers Allapattah, Brownsville, and portions of Miami Springs, recorded a 60% decline over the same period, dropping from 20 homicides in 2020 to 8 in 2024.
Overall, Miami-Dade County experienced a 39% decrease in all homicides and a 42% reduction in firearm-related homicides from 2020 to 2024. The report credits these historic declines to targeted investments in law enforcement and community-based violence prevention programs, along with coordinated multi-sector strategies that connect government agencies and nonprofits in real-time responses to violent incidents.
“Coordinated and targeted public safety investments that include community-based violence prevention and victim service programs are key to the historic homicide declines in the Miami-Dade ZIP codes that have struggled most with violence,” the report notes.
Key initiatives contributing to these reductions include:
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City of Miami efforts: Focused law enforcement on individuals with histories of violence, using the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN) to prevent shootings, while implementing a Group Violence Intervention Strategy in Model City and Little Haiti. Community Health Outreach Workers and social workers responded to 89 shooting incidents, served 60 clients, and conducted 171 notifications to victims and perpetrators of gun violence.
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Miami-Dade County initiatives: Anti-Violence Initiative/Group Violence Initiative (AVI/GVI) street outreach teams responded to 798 shooting incidents since 2019. Hospital-based Violence Intervention Programs provided 1,892 services to 476 individuals. The Community Violence Intervention Initiative partnered with the Carrie Meek Foundation’s Supporting Safer Communities grant program, awarding over $7 million to more than 80 nonprofits, including those serving ZIP codes 33147 and 33142.
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Youth programs: The GATE Program for Juvenile Weapon Offenders has provided six-month programming to families since 1999, reducing recidivism through prosocial behavioral interventions.
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Law enforcement action: The Miami-Dade Office of the Sheriff removed 3,288 illegal firearms through Operation Community Shield, now operating as Operation Safe Summer, while enhancing community engagement with initiatives such as “Coffee with a Cop” and collaboration with violence intervention programs like the Circle of Brotherhood.
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“The dramatic transformation of these neighborhoods highlights the potential of multi-sector collaboration to save lives,” the report concludes, “providing lessons that can inform efforts to reduce homicides in other communities.”
