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2004:
See Daron Caldwell :
The new chief is not good! Saskatoon and Detroit have a lot in common. We
can look at Detroit now and see Saskatoon in ten years Also: Benton
Harbor |
Maurice
Carter | Kenora, Ontario
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Detroit
Detroit Police Chief
Oliver resigns
By David Shepardson and
Darci McConnell / The Detroit News, Carlos Osorio / Associated
Press, October 31, 2003
Detroit Police Chief Jerry
Oliver, shown on March 21, 2002, resigned Friday amid a controversy
that he failed to declare a loaded pistol when he boarded a flight
and news that he is not yet a licensed, sworn police officer
in Michigan.
About Jerry Oliver
Name: Jerry Alton Oliver
Sr.
Age: 56 (Born March 2, 1947.)
Education: Master's degree in public administration and
a bachelor's degree in criminal justice, both from Arizona State
University; graduate of the FBI's 21st national Executive Institute.
Experience: Detroit, police chief, January 2002 to October
2003; Richmond, Va., police chief, May 1995 to January 2002;
Pasadena, Calif., police chief, June 1991 to May 1995; director
of drug policy, Memphis, Tenn., 1990; assistant chief of police,
Phoenix, where he started his police career in 1971.
Family: Wife Felicia; twin sons, Joshua and Jacob.
Source: Detroit Police Department.
DETROIT -- Detroit Police Chief
Jerry A. Oliver Sr. announced his resignation Friday afternoon
after 18 months on the job.
At a somber news conference
in Detroit Police Department headquarters, Oliver said he decided
to leave because the controversy surrounding him, which he called
"all the misinformation, all the rumors," had hindered
his ability to do his job.
"This is a big job. I'm
not going to allow this to become a sideshow," said Oliver,
who was flanked by Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. "It's not about
any other issues. I'm a public servant."
The latest controversy to hit
Oliver is that he may face charges for failing to tell officials
that he had his .25-caliber pistol in his luggage before taking
a flight Oct. 18 from Detroit Metropolitan Airport to Philadelphia.
Oliver said he didn't think
he had to register the personal weapon in Michigan, where he
had not yet become a licensed, sworn police officer. He has been
a sworn officer in other departments and said he has had the
gun for years.
Officials from the Michigan
Commission on Law Enforcement Standards said Oliver was in the
process of becoming a sworn officer.
The incident presented a dilemma
for the mayor, when crime numbers continued to fall on Oliver's
watch. At the same time, Oliver has rankled many within the department
with a hard-line approach to punishing officers who face their
own criminal troubles, often for domestic violence.
Kilpatrick, who appointed Oliver
after conducting a national search, said he was saddened by the
chief's decision to resign.
"I'm very disappointed,
very disappointed that the chief is not going to be the chief
anymore," the mayor said.
Kilpatrick praised Oliver,
the first chief to come from outside the department since 1968,
for doing what he called a "miraculous" job. Oliver
got rid of an "antiquated command structure (and) led the
Detroit Police Department kicking and screaming into the 21st
century," he said.
An acting chief will be appointed
next week, said Kilpatrick, who declined to say whether he would
conduct a national search for a chief.
City Councilwoman Sheila Cockrel
said she is "deeply saddened by Chief Oliver's necessary
resignation."
"I believe the chief has
been the most significant champion for reform in the Detroit
Police Department in the last 40 years," Cockrel said.
Still, Cockrel, who on Friday
cosponsored a resolution with Councilwoman JoAnn Watson that
called for the mayor to investigate Oliver and the gun controversy,
said Oliver's integrity had come into question.
"I think he has done the
correct thing for the organization," she said.
A Web site -- firejerryo.com
-- created by former Officer John Bennett showed a cartoon of
Kilpatrick kicking Oliver. Above it is a headline "Moving
the Department forward."
The shake-up comes at a critical
moment for the department, which is in the early stages of complying
with two federal court orders on the department's policies about
using of force and questioning of witnesses.
Officer Laura Isom, president
of the Detroit Police Command Officers Association, said officers
wish Oliver well, despite having had differences in the past.
"We didn't really feel
that the lines of communication were open with Chief Oliver,"
Isom said. "Sometimes somebody can listen to you, but to
really work things out there has to be some give and take. "Chief
Oliver was least communicative in terms of having a cooperative
effort."
Lt. Ricardo Moore said he looked
forward to "a new beginning with a new chief."
"Whoever it will be, hopefully
the dept will go in a new direction," Moore said. "I
have had a problem in past with the chief. But, hopefully, now
with a new chief all of these problems will be resolved."
The mayor said he doesn't expect
Oliver's resignation to affect the reform effort, which is being
overseen by an outside monitor.
Oliver, however, noted that
"there's monumental work to do" to improve the department.
But he said the department
is making changes.
"Real reform is under
way that you can see in the streets and the stores and the neighborhood,"
Oliver said.
As for the possible gun charge
against Oliver, Duggan said Thursday that investigators still
needed to talk to police officers who were with Oliver and with
employees of Northwest Airlines before deciding whether to file
any charge.
A federal gun check showed
that Oliver bought the pistol in Arizona 30 years ago. Oliver
said the gun is licensed in Richmond, Va., where he was chief
before coming to Detroit in February 2002.
Duggan declined to discuss
what charges are possible in the case.
Oliver, who was fined by federal
authorities in the matter, has not discussed it with Duggan's
office.
The Associated Press contributed.
You can reach David Shepardson at (313) 222-2028 or dshepardson@detnews.com. You can
reach Darci McConnell at (313) 222-2073 or dmcconnell@detnews.com.
Copyright © 2003
The Detroit News.
Detroit police called
the worst
BY BEN SCHMITT AND M.L.
ELRICK, FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS, June 12, 2003
Federal investigators reached
a bruising conclusion about Detroit police, condemning the department
as the most troubled force they have seen in 10 years of scrutinizing
police nationwide, according to documents obtained by the Free
Press.
U.S. Justice Department officials
who investigate police misconduct told Detroit police officials
they "have never seen problems as embedded and entrenched
as in the DPD," according to documents prepared by Police
Chief Jerry Oliver's staff to brief the department's 3,900 officers
earlier this year.
Today, city and federal officials
will discuss their plan to reduce the use of lethal force, end
illegal detention of witnesses and improve conditions in police
lockups. The agreement, scheduled to be detailed at noon in the
U.S. Attorney's Office in downtown Detroit, calls for a federal
monitor to oversee the department for at least the next five
years.
Documents given to officers
in March quoted U.S. Justice Department officials as saying Detroit's
Police Department needs "strict judicial oversight."
On Wednesday, Oliver said that
even after 17 months on the job, he's still learning how deep
the trouble runs. "The last couple months here have been
a real eye-opener," he said.
Among the improvements federal
officials will require is increasing the number of nonlethal
weapons police carry, Oliver said. Options include batons and
Tasers, which are like electronic stun guns. "We're being
mandated to have an array" of weapons, the chief said.
The city also may have to make
costly repairs to decrepit police lockups. "You're talking
about facilities that are antique in many ways," Oliver
said.
What the agreement doesn't
do is pay for improvements.
"The Department of Justice
doesn't bring money," Oliver said. "It's going to be
big numbers."
Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick
and Justice Department officials declined to discuss details
of the agreement, such as whether it is a memorandum of understanding
or a consent decree. The latter is a more drastic and potentially
costly cure for the department, and requires a judge's order.
"People anticipate it's
going to be a consent decree," Oliver said.
Whatever happens, the chief
said he welcomes an end to the 30-month federal civil rights
investigation into the department, which began after Free Press
stories about fatal police shootings prompted then-Mayor Dennis
Archer to ask the U.S. Justice Department for help.
The newspaper reported that
Detroit led the nation's large cities in the number of per-capita
shootings of citizens by police. It later reported that police
detained homicide witnesses without required court authorization
and that 14 people died in police lockups from 1998 to 2001.
The Justice Department probe
concentrated on all three situations, according to police.
Although a monitor will reduce
some of Kilpatrick and Oliver's authority to run the department
as they see fit, the chief said the outsider could provide him
a valuable ally in reforming the department.
"It gives me more power,
more leverage, to get the kind of important things done that
we need," Oliver said, adding that it will help him overcome
union opposition.
But Detroit Police Officers
Association Vice President Derrick Royal said he does not believe
the agreement gives Oliver broader authority.
"There is nothing in there
that really violates our contract," he said. Union officials
expected to meet with Justice Department officials to discuss
the agreement Wednesday night.
Oliver said city officials
are not worried about the terms of the agreement.
"Everything that's in
that agreement, we're OK with," he said. "We've either
negotiated or agreed that's something we should be doing."
Police Department monitors
are nothing new.
In Cincinnati, Saul Green,
former U.S. attorney in Detroit, is serving as a monitor in an
agreement between the city and Justice Department. Green, who
began his duties in December, said he files progress reports
with the federal court every 90 days.
Green said he is working with
a team of 10 experts from around the country as part of the agreement
to help create an early warning system for problem officers and
address the department's use-of-force procedures and citizen
complaint process.
"The monitor is ultimately
responsible for monitoring activities, but there's always a team
of people involved," Green said. "There's a use-of-force
expert, an expert in community policing and an expert in training."
Green and the 10 team members,
combined, are being paid about $800,000 annually, he said. His
duties take him to Cincinnati at least once a month.
"It takes a while to get
the ball rolling," Green said Wednesday. "You've got
different parties at the table having to communicate in ways
they haven't in the past."
Contact BEN SCHMITT at 313-222-6597
or schmitt@freepress.com . Contact M.L. ELRICK at 313-223-3327
or elrick@freepress.com .
Copyright © 2003 Detroit
Free Press Inc.
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Truth can never be
told so as to be understood, and not be believ'd. William Blake, The Proverbs of Hell
