Chief Bettison adds new chapter in Detroit police history
City council approved a recommendation to name former deputy mayor Todd Bettison the permanent Detroit police chief. He joins a list of influential police leaders.
Detroit City Council approved a recommendation Tuesday naming former deputy mayor Todd Bettison as Detroit’s next police chief.
The Detroit Board of Police Commissioners led a nationwide search for the city’s next police chief after James White left last year to lead the Detroit Wayne Integrated Health Network (DWIHN). The search was narrowed to three candidates; Bettison, Joel Fitzgerald and Joshua Wallace.
Fitzgerald and Wallace applied to lead DPD from outside of the state. Both faced questions related to personal issues and alleged misconduct.
A Wayne State graudate, Bettison’s annual salary is $243,152 — the same as Chief James White before he left for DWIHN in October. White’s base salary at DWIHN is $300,000, plus additional performance bonuses.
Bettison has served as interim police chief since November. He took over after James White left the department to lead the Detroit Wayne Integrated Health Network mental health authority.
City Council member Coleman Young II shared stories detailing how Bettison helped residents, and has led crime reduction initiatives like the city’s community violence intervention program.
“I’ll never forget how Brenda Hill told me she spells community: B-E-T-T-I-S-O-N,” Young said.
Council member Angela Whitfield-Calloway said she hope to see the amount of police lawsuit settlements reduced during Bettison’s tenure.
Bettison told me in Lansing last month following a press conference where Republicans railed against “woke policies,” he’s not afraid to work with anyone to bring public safety to Detroiters, no matter their politics.
“I’m fighting for our (CVI) groups to be able to continue to do the good work — it’s cops, it’s people, community and it’s also technology, that is going to continue to help us move forward and push crime down and stop the cycle of violence,” Bettison said.
Bettison worked his way up through the department honorably, Duggan said last week during a press conference in which he announced Bettison would be recommended as permanent chief.
“Todd came to this city as a teenager,” Duggan said. “He worked his way up the ranks one step at a time.”
The Detroit Police Department has a fascinating history. Keep reading to learn about notable police leaders of the past:
James White
James White’s tenure (2021-2024) saw police officers receive annual increases the department credits for increasing the size of the 2,000 + member department.
In 2022, the city approved pay increases for officers from $43,000 to $53,000 annually. Experienced officers went from $60,000 to $73,000, while detectives and ranking officers received raises of $10,000 to $11,000.
Compare that to the less than $30,000 officers were earning amid the 2013 bankruptcy.
White, a former chair of Michigan’s Department of Civil Rights Commission, was viewed as a reformist who championed mental health solutions. He grew up in Detroit’s historic Boston-Edison neighborhood with with grandmother.
White faced criticism from community activists in 2022 for not disciplining an officer who fired 38 shots, killing a 20-year-old young man, Porter Burks, who was suffering a mental health crisis.
James Craig
Former Chief James Craig was hired while Detroit was under the control of Republican Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder appointed emergency manager Kevin Orr.
Craig raised eyebrows upon his hiring in 2013 when it was announced he would make $225,000 annually. The position was advertised at $140,500, the Free Press reported.
Mayor Dave Bing’s salary at the time was about $158,000.
Considering a career in Republican politics, Craig became a frequent guests on Fox News during the 2020 Black Lives Matter movement, where he declared his leadership was the reason Detroit never burned, like other cities across the state and country.
After retiring from the department, Craig was a Republican gubernatorial candidate in 2022. His campaign was unable to collect enough valid signatures to be eligible for the ballot after fraudsters forged signatures as part of a petition scandal that rocked the 2022 Republican gubernatorial primary.
Craig was viewed as the Republican front-runner before being disqualified.
He espoused conservative values while chief, saying in 2014 if more citizens were armed, crime would decrease.
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