James Craig (police chief)

James E. Craig (born 1956) is the head of the Detroit Police Department. He has served in this capacity since 2013. At times Craig has gained widespread attention for his defense of the right of city residents to own guns.

Craig was raised in Detroit and graduated from Cass Tech High School. He first joined the Detroit Police force in 1977 until 1981. He was laid off that year and went to Los Angeles to work for the LAPD. From 2009 to 2011 he was police chief in Portland, Maine. From 2011 to 2013 he was chief of police in Cincinnati, Ohio. During his tenure with the Cincinnati Police Department, he changed the rank structure, retired the white police uniforms for navy blue uniforms and temporarily removed hats on patrol.

He was originally appointed police chief by Detroit emergency manager Kevyn Orr.

When Craig took over as police chief he was replacing Chester Logan, who had held the position on an interim basis since the previous October when Ralph Godbee, who was fired for having sexual relations with a subordinate.[1]

In early 2014 Craig made national headlines by saying more armed citizens would decrease the crime rate.[2][3]

At times Craig has made headlines by describing people involved in mass shootings in the city as "urban terrorists".[4]

In December 2015 Craig said that terrorist are unlikely to attack Detroit because so many residents have concealed carry permits.[5]

In January 2016 Craig was also designated as Detroit's deputy mayor.[6]

As police chief Craig has initiated Project Green Light to provide police live stream of videos to businesses to better respond to crimes there. He has also initiated programs to cut gang membership and large scale sweeps aimed at finding people with outstanding warrants.[7]

In June 2019, Craig was at a press conference shortly after Motor City Pride had white supremacist protestors, where he said "They wanted something more substantive than Charlottesville", referring to the Unite the Right rally. This was stated after controversy regarding the department escorting the white supremacists.[8]

In August 2019, Craig responded to controversies surrounding facial recognition software being used to identify criminals. Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib tweeted out to Detroit PD to stop using facial recognition, to which Craig invited her to come to the Real Time Crime Center, where they operate Project Green Light.[9] The facial recognition policies were changed to be limited to still images of suspects in criminal investigations.[10]

In March 2020, Craig tested positive for COVID-19 during the 2020 coronavirus pandemic in Michigan.[11]