Incoming Detroit Police Chief James Craig speaks in the Grandmont-Rosedale neighborhood on a pilot program policing tactic Thursday, June 27. After a year of a community policing pilot program in the Grandmont-Rosedale community of Detroit's west side, the neighborhood has seen a 26% reduction in home invasion. Detroit police partnered with Michigan Corrections, the DPD and the Grandmont-Rosedale community to implement new on-street policing tactics to reduce crime. (Tanya Moutzalias | MLive.com)

DETROIT — Incoming Police Chief James Craig vows to change the Detroit Police Department, both structurally and in terms of morale.

The nearly 2,500-officer department has too many sworn police sitting behind desks, he says, and they need to be actively policing their community, not doing paperwork.

Tackling the problems of the Detroit Police Department Craig said will "clearly" be the "most challenging" task he's faced in his 38-year career.

Craig said he moves "very quickly."

In Cincinnati "they have never see the amount of change.. happen in just shy of two years as they've seen in their 25-year careers," he said. "Change is coming."

Craig hopes to work with the community to identify residents who are creating the violence, not "throw a blanket out" and "stop everything that moves."

For those who want to commit violent acts and "shoot their guns around without impunity, those days are over," he said sternly.

"We didn't tolerate it in Los Angeles, we certainly didn't tolerate it in Cincinnati or Portland, Maine, and I'm not going to tolerate it here in the city of Detroit," Craig said. "It is ended. I start Monday. Think about what you're doing."

Organizational changes

The current state of the city under emergency management, Craig feels is an opportune time to fine tune the department structure.

"I can't give you any idea of what the new organization will look like," he said, "but I will commit to you that it will change."

Changes begin with getting more officers out from behind desks and into the communities.

"I am not a fan of sworn officers... working as dispatchers," he said. "Detroit is probably one of the last major cities that has sworn officers doing that job."

There are hints that changes could be coming to the emergency operations department that houses 911 operations and dispatch.

Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr's office issued a letter to AFSCME 25, which represents 18 local unions, saying it's contract would be terminated.

Edward L. McNeil, said this makes no sense. "We don't have a contract right now," he said, adding that the only group under the union umbrella with different employment terms is the emergency operations union, a 200-member group that includes dispatchers.

Craig said he'll look at ways to get more productivity out of injured officers who are on-duty but unable to patrol.

"I've heard the stories about sworn officers in clerical positions," Craig said. "I need sworn officers, full-duty, in the field and officers who struggle with the notion... that's going to be a problem.

"If this police chief can put a uniform on and get in a marked police vehicle, every full-duty officer will be expected to do that."

The days of promotions based on on officer's ability "to write a good report" are over, Craig said.

Transparency

Even though the press conference Thursday was specifically about a police-community initiative that reduced home invasions in the Grandmont-Rosedale neighborhood, which those involved said was a success, Craig did not limit the scope of reporter questions to that topic.

He answered numerous questions unrelated to the project. When the press conference completed, Craig proceeded to spend another 10-plus minutes fielding questions from reporters.

"I'm committed to always being transparent, I'm committed to making time available, and I'm committed that we will meet on a regular basis," he told numerous media who surrounded him on Greenview in northwest Detroit Thursday. "And you will always get crime statistics, as soon as I get my own."



Even has his staff urged him toward his car, Craig turned and stopped to answer reporters who had one last thing to ask.

Many of his answers were general and vague, which is to be expected considering he is new to the post and still gathering information about the department and community, but he tried to respond to each question.

He said he preferred not to discuss the exact location of a new home he purchased near downtown Detroit and would not reveal what outside staff he intends to bring with him to Detroit.



In the past, there has been tension between the media and Detroit police leadership regarding the availability of statistics and crime information, something Craig claims he intends to avoid.

