Detroit may be a week or two away from having a new police chief, says the Detroit News. A job offer should go out this week to Cincinnati Police Chief James Craig, a native Detroiter who is the consensus choice of Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr and the city’s Police Commission.
If he comes to Detroit, Craig would be leaving the Cincinnati department after two years, just as the city is considering laying off 15 percent of its force to deal with a budget crisis. Fixing public safety is the keystone to fixing Detroit. The city’s inability to control crime is a major contributor to its ongoing population drain. Public safety — police and fire — consumes 53 percent of the city’s budget. Making those departments work right is essential to erasing the deficit.