FILE - In this Nov.
21, 2019, file
photo, Detroit
Police Chief James
Craig, left, speaks
to the media at
Detroit Public
Safety Headquarters
in Detroit. Craig
has scheduled a news
conference Monday
May 10, 2021, to
announce his
retirement as head
of Detroit's police
department and to
possibly discuss his
future plans which
could include a run
for political
office. (David
Guralnick/Detroit
News via AP, File)
Detroit
police
chief
announces
retirement
effective
June 1
By
COREY
WILLIAMS
apnews.com
DETROIT
-
Detroit
police
Chief
James
Craig
announced
Monday
that he
will
retire
as head
of the
city’s
police
force,
but he
did not
immediately
reveal
his
future
plans,
which
could
include
a run
for
political
office.
Craig,
who has
had the
longest
tenure
of any
recent
Detroit
police
chief,
said his
retirement
is
effective
June 1
and is
voluntary.
The
Detroit
native
was
hired in
2013 by
an
emergency
manager
after
the
state
assumed
control
of the
financially
broken
city.
Craig,
who is
Black,
immediately
set out
to
restore
residents’
confidence
in the
Detroit
Police
Department,
which
had a
history
of civil
rights
abuses
by
officers
against
the
city’s
mostly
Black
population.
Mayor
Mike
Duggan
told
reporters
that
Craig
has
“brought
professionalism
to the
department.”
“I
tried to
convince
him to
stay,
but I
couldn’t
persuade
him. He
gave
eight
good
years of
service
and I
wanted
to be
here to
say,
’Thank
you,’”
Duggan
said at
the news
conference
where
Craig
announced
his
retirement.
Some
Republicans
have
said
they
hope
Craig
challenges
Democratic
Gov.
Gretchen
Whitmer
in 2022.
Craig
said he
is a
Republican
but that
he has
not made
a
decision
about
seeking
political
office.
“I’m
not
ruling
it out,”
he
added.
Detroit
has had
about a
dozen
police
chiefs
since
the
early
1990s
and five
in the
previous
five
years
before
Craig
was
hired.
Several
were
forced
out amid
allegations
of
wrongdoing.
Before
taking
the
Detroit
job,
Craig
was
Cincinnati’s
chief
starting
in 2011
after
being
hired in
2009 to
lead the
Portland,
Maine,
Police
Department.
Craig
served
28 years
in Los
Angeles
after
starting
his
police
career
as an
officer
in
Detroit
in 1977.
Craig,
64, has
railed
against
the
numbers
of
illegal
guns on
Detroit
streets
while
being an
outspoken
proponent
of the
Second
Amendment.
Following
a number
of
justifiable
shootings
or those
done in
self-defense,
Craig
said in
2014
that
Detroit
residents
had the
right to
arm
themselves
as a
form of
protection.
“Detroiters
are fed
up,” he
said at
the
time.
“They’re
fed up
with
violence.
I’m not
encouraging
violence,
and in
fact,
I’m
about
the
business
of
identifying
those
violent
perpetrators
that
carry
illegal
guns.”
He
also has
pushed
back
against
calls
for
cities
to
defund
police
departments
following
last
May’s
death of
George
Floyd in
Minneapolis,
which
led to
protests
around
the U.S.
against
racism
and
police
brutality
that at
times
turned
violent.
Demonstrations
in
Detroit
were
largely
peaceful,
but the
city was
sued by
activists
who said
officers
used
excessive
force
against
protesters.
Craig’s
retirement
is “good
for the
people,
good for
the
city,”
said
Kenneth
Reed,
spokesman
for the
Detroit
Coalition
Against
Police
Brutality,
which
often
has been
critical
of the
department
and how
officers
have
treated
city
residents.
“He
came in
early on
and he
encouraged
people
to arm
themselves,”
Reed
said.
“He did
not have
a
crime-fighting
plan and
never
had.”
In
2018,
Detroit
had 261
homicides
— the
fewest
in
decades.
Last
year,
homicides
topped
300 in
the city
of more
than
672,000.
Non-fatal
shootings
also
were up.
To
date,
five
Republicans
have
formed
gubernatorial
campaign
committees.
All are
lesser-known
candidates
without
major
government
or
political
experience.
“Chief
Craig
would
bring a
whole
new
level of
leadership
that is
exciting,”
said
Meshawn
Maddock,
co-chair
of the
Michigan
Republican
Party.
Others
considering
whether
to run
include
businessman
and Iraq
War
veteran
John
James,
the GOP
nominee
for U.S.
Senate
in 2020
and
2018,
and
businesswoman
Lena
Epstein,
who ran
for a
suburban
Detroit
congressional
seat in
2018.
Whitmer,
who is
expected
to seek
reelection,
had $3.5
million
in her
campaign
account
as of
Dec. 31.
___
Associated
Press
writer
David
Eggert
in
Lansing
contributed
to this
report.