People in any city in America who live in vulnerable communities absolutely rely and want the police

See The Man Who Kept the Peace in Detroit: Recently retired police chief James Craig refused to tolerate the political violence that wracked other cities last year by Jillian Kay Melchior of The WSJ. Excerpts:

"He rejects the charge of systemic police racism. “If you take a city like Detroit and say African-Americans are more likely to be stopped by police than whites, the answer would be: That’s true. Does that mean that Detroit police engage in discrimination? No. You have to look at it in a more practical, realistic way.”

“This is something that folks don’t like to talk about,” Mr. Craig continues, but “black-on-black crime does exist, and sadly, in vulnerable communities it’s more common that violent crimes are perpetrated more times by persons of color against persons of color.” Radical critics of law enforcement fail to understand that “people in any city in America who live in vulnerable communities absolutely rely and want the police. They want constitutional policing. But they want to be safe.”"

"Mr. Craig considered it part of his role as chief to help the public make distinctions about the use of force. In July 2020, Detroit police fatally shot 20-year-old Hakim Littleton. The group Detroit Will Breathe claimed police had executed him. Mr. Craig calls that “an absolute lie” but says it “mobilized a very angry group to converge on the crime scene.”

Mr. Craig quickly and publicly defended his officers’ use of force and told the story of what transpired. Officers were arresting a man on an active warrant when “Littleton appeared, saw that his friend was being arrested, and he opened fire on an officer” at close range, which prompted police to shoot him in self-defense. Mr. Craig released video to back up his account.

Tristan Taylor, an activist with Detroit Will Breathe, says he sticks by his accusation after seeing the video: “That’s execution. I don’t know what else to call it.” But Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, a Democrat, determined the officers had “acted in lawful self-defense” and declined to press charges, and Mr. Craig says that body-camera footage can be “a great tool in engendering public trust.”

That said, he adds that “you can’t wait for something bad to happen in the community to start developing relationships.” Sandy Baruah, president of the Detroit Regional Chamber, says Mr. Craig spent years building “great credibility with neighborhoods, with neighborhood groups, with the people.” Those relationships paid off during the 2020 protests. Pastor Mo says black community leaders feared that “once the first bullet flew here, we wouldn’t be able to stop them.” He and others rushed to the protests and stood between agitators and police officers, urging nonviolence."

"Mr. Craig likewise trusts the good intentions of many who marched: “Some affiliated with Black Lives Matter may not even understand maybe some of the Marxist underpinnings of the leadership.” Others had worse intentions, including the establishment of an unpoliced “autonomous zone,” à la Seattle, or the takeover of police precincts: “It’s a movement made to undermine our government as we know it, and in some places you were more successful than others.”

They didn’t succeed in Detroit. Mr. Craig worked as a cop in Los Angeles during the 1992 riots and remembers the destruction wrought after police backed down. “I took a firm stand: We don’t retreat here in Detroit.” He gave disrupters “a warning to vacate, and if not, we’re going to start making lawful arrests.” He didn’t hesitate to use tear gas and other less-lethal tools when police came under violent attack. But one officer who used such munitions inappropriately was charged with a crime."

"Mr. Craig says the rise in antipolice rhetoric has emboldened criminals while harming police morale nationwide. He assigns much of the blame for the nationwide spike in crime to bail reform and left-wing judges and prosecutors. In Detroit, “the good news, from a prosecutor’s side,” is that “roughly 75% of those individuals arrested for a concealed weapon are being charged.” But at times “the judges are saying, ‘No bail, no bail,’ with in some instances, no regard to the person’s criminal history.”"

"Michiganders got a sense of what a Craig candidacy might look like on July 6, as Mr. Craig delivered his first political address. “Just like many African-Americans growing up in Detroit, I was automatically considered a Democrat,” he said. But he grew disillusioned with how Democrats governed cities and promoted a “victimhood mentality” in vulnerable communities. “We know that handouts increase dependency on government, and only for the purpose of political gain,” Mr. Craig said, calling for “success through self-reliance.”"