Chief James Craig
The nice thing about being a new police chief is that you can make grand pronouncements that people pay very close attention to, and scrap some of the less popular ideas of the previous regime.
Newly minted Detroit Police Chief James Craig is doing just that.
Craig announced Friday that said he intends to do away with the unpopular "virtual precincts" and once again make all city police stations accessible to the public 24/7, the Detroit Free Press reported. Under the virtual precinct plan, precincts are closed to the public from around 4 p.m. to 8 a.m. Citizens must call a special number to report non-emergency incidents.
Craig offered no date as to when the transition would happen.
“These police stations should not and will not be closed,” Craig said during a news conference at the city’s new public safety headquarters. “They’re going to be open around the clock in the city of Detroit.”
Craig also said:
*Motorola and the city itself are to blame for a two-hour communications system crash last week. One of the communications towers owned by Motorola, the city’s vendor for the dispatch system, failed due to overheating July 5. The system is still operating at only 90 percent.
*Two nationally known consultant groups will review DPD operations and make recommendations on how to improve morale, increase policing activities and improve community relations. They are the Bratton Group and the Manhattan Institute.
*The city is ordering new bulletproof vests to replace the expired vests assigned to 365 officers.
*The department will modify the widely disliked 12-hour shift model. Craig said he is working with police unions to create a hybrid shift.
