Detroit Chief of Police Running from Crime. Literally!

Chief of Police isn’t a certified officer in Michigan

DETROIT, MI – When faced with an attempted carjacking of his unmarked squad car, Detroit Police Chief James Craig just drove away. As it turns out, there isn’t much that the police chief could have done.  Why? The chief of police is not a certified police officer in the state of Michigan.

Relaying his story to a crowd of about 50 people at a community meeting about Detroit’s carjacking problem, Mr. Craig explained that he “accelerated out of harm’s way,” rather than arresting the suspect.

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Because Mr. Craig is not certified as a police officer, he does not posses the same authority to detain suspects based on reasonable suspicion and make arrests based on probable cause.  Therefore, he is limited to making citizens arrests, which, under Michigan law, require a felony to have been committed.

According to the Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standards, Mr. Craig was sent paperwork for obtaining the certification in July, when his tenure began, but has thus far failed to return it.

This isn’t the first time Mr. Craig ran into troubles with obtaining state certification.  At his previous post as chief of police in Cincinnati, Mr. Craig made a request to be waived from taking the state officer certification tests. Although he was granted a waiver from the vast majority of the training requirements, Mr. Craig was not exempt from requirements relating specifically to Ohio law.

Rather than fulfilling these requirements, Mr. Craig filed a lawsuit arguing that the test was unfair to out-of-state chief candidates and that the amount of time he would have to devote to preparation would be better spent elsewhere.  Ultimately, he dropped the lawsuit after accepting the position in Detroit.

As of last week, there have been 582 carjackings in Detroit this year.

12 comments

Patricia October 28, 2013 at 7:42 pm

Either he takes the tests to certify him or he doesn’t belong in the position he is in. Is there a reason he doesn’t believe he needs to be qualified for the job? Detroit needs leadership in all areas and obviously this is not a good choice for police chief if he is not even willing to fill out paperwork to qualify himself for the job he already holds. Fire him and get somebody else!

Emily Ray Frisbie October 28, 2013 at 9:09 pm

Isn’t car jacking a felony! He could have done a citizens arrest.

Henry Strzelecki October 28, 2013 at 9:17 pm

He can’t pass the qualification test… But he got the job…He obviously doesn’t deserve…

amandaleane October 28, 2013 at 9:42 pm

I wonder if he is unable to read. …

Thomas Albaugh October 28, 2013 at 10:33 pm

And he is a Police Chief why……

dirtydog1776 October 28, 2013 at 11:18 pm

Time to file a lawsuit, but no time to take a class. Probably can’t read or write. Typical of Detroit.

Harry Largo October 29, 2013 at 6:07 am

The same city that had an illiterate School Board President, Otis Mathis. He was eventually fired for fondling himself in front of the superintendent.
lol

Blake Harris October 29, 2013 at 6:48 am

Last I checked car jacking is a felony so… He just sounds like a pussy.

Bruce Walberg October 29, 2013 at 12:27 pm

Just another day in the big Shity

Alex Morris October 29, 2013 at 3:50 pm

that is because his old ass can’t pass the BLET physical requirements. we have the same issue with the chief in Charlotte, NC. it is an administrator position.

Stormtrooper October 29, 2013 at 9:28 pm

Affirmative action…………..because it works!……..LOL

maddaddyssa October 31, 2013 at 5:05 am

Affirmative action in action. This is what happens when equality of RESULTS, not the best and brightest, is the primary criteria

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