James Craig

James E. Craig (born 1956) is an American law enforcement officer and politician who served as the chief of three municipal police departments: the Portland (Maine) Police Department (2009–11), the Cincinnati Police Department (2011–13), and the Detroit Police Department (2013–21). Prior to serving as a department chief, Craig had worked as an officer in the Detroit Police Department from 1977 to 1981 and in the Los Angeles Police Department from 1981 to 2009. At both Portland and Cincinnati, he was the first Black person to have served as the chief of police. Craig's tenure as Detroit police chief was the second-longest of any chief in the department's history.

A member of the Republican Party, after departing his position as chief of the Detroit Police Department Craig has had several unsuccessful campaigns for elected offices in the state of Michigan. In 2022 Craig was an unsuccessful candidate for the Republican nomination for governor, unsuccessfully fielding a write-in campaign after disqualified from the ballot for the Republican primary. Craig launched a campaign for the Republican nomination in the 2024 U.S. Senate election in Michigan, but withdrew prior to the primary. Craig ran in the nonpartisan 2025 Detroit mayoral election.

Early life Craig was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. His father was a veteran of the U.S. Army and served as a reserve police officer at the time of the 1967 Detroit riot, when James Craig was in fifth grade. He graduated from Cass Technical High School and joined the Detroit Police Department in 1977.

Early police career in Detroit and Los Angeles Craig first worked at the Detroit Police Department from 1977 until he was laid off in 1981. After being laid off, he went to Los Angeles to work for the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) His annual salary in Portland ($91,000) was lower than his salary had been at the end of his LAPD career ($170,000). Additionally, Portland's department had fewer officers than the West Los Angeles Area of the LAPD the Craig had previously headed.

When Craig was appointed, Portland had experienced growth in its Black population due to an influx of refugee populations from Sudan and Somalia, yet only had four black officers in a 122-officer department. Craig, as an African American chief, was regarded as lending credibility to the department's messaging on criticisms relating to racial disparity and its actions towards addressing them, which had increasing become a challenge for the department. Incidentally, only days before Craig was sworn-in as chief, an officer had controversially shot a member of the refugee population. During his tenure, a CompStat-style process was implemented in the department, Craig was the department's first African American chief. He was also considered Cincinnati's first police chief not to hail from the city prior to being appointed. During his tenure, the city's crime rate was at its lowest since 2000. Craig received praise for how he engaged with leaders of various community groups. He was appointed police chief in 2013 by Detroit emergency manager Kevyn Orr. He replaced Chester Logan, who had held the position on an interim basis since the previous October when his predecessor, Ralph Godbee, was fired for having sexual relations with a subordinate. Craig officially took office on July 1, 2013. Craig held this additional role for only a brief period of time. Craig claimed in 2017 that crime was steadily decreasing since his taking office in 2013, with data from a new software system employed by Detroit showing a 5 percent decrease in violent crime in 2016. The Federal Bureau of Investigation disputed his claim, and suggested violent crime had actually increased 15.7 percent between 2015 and 2016. Craig and others rejected their assessment. Detroit reported a 19 percent increase in homicide cases in 2020, with non-deadly shootings up 53 percent, though this was part of a trend of increasing crime nationwide, with homicide cases also rising above 50 percent in cities such as Boston and Chicago.

In Craig's last five months as police chief (January 1-May 31, 2021), homicides in Detroit were up 27% and non-fatal shootings increased 44%. Craig blamed the COVID-19 pandemic and George Floyd riots for the increase in crime. alleging that the two federal agencies had used Kenyel Brown as an informant. County Prosecutor Kym Worthy responded by suggesting that the police department's investigations were often inadequate, In December 2015, Craig said that terrorists are unlikely to attack Detroit because so many residents have concealed carry permits.

In 2022, Duggan criticized Craig's record as police chief, noting that violent crime in Detroit did not decline until after the appointment, in June 2021, of James White as Craig's successor. However, questions were raised about response times varying by neighborhood. In February 2019, Police Commissioner Willie Burton questioned Craig and others about reporting in a Deadline Detroit news investigation that indicated that lower-income neighborhoods experienced worse response times than wealthier ones. Craig refuted the methods of Deadline Detroit'''s analysis, arguing that the greater amount of crimes in the city's poorest neighborhoods would explain worse response times, arguing that more crime, "means more runs, which take longer."

As police chief, Craig initiated "Project Green Light", a program aimed to give quicker police attention to businesses.

George Floyd protests On May 28, (three days after George Floyd was murdered by Derek Chauvinan officer of the Minneapolis Police Department), Craig voiced support for the Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo's decision to quickly dismiss all four involved officers involved in Floyd's murder. Craig remarked that "preservation of trust in our communities is always a key mandate," and described Floyd's murder as "horrific and senseless". He additionally opined that the video of Floyd and Chauvin presented sufficient evidence for Chauvin to be charged with murder, and that Chauvin should be arrested on such charges.

Amid the national George Floyd protests, which included protests in Detroit, Craig enforced a curfew that Mayor Duggan ordered. Craig stated that he intended to support protester's First Amendment rights, and that the Detroit Police Department would "continue to support the message" that most protesters were representing, but also that the Department would not support property damage. Craig characterized the majority of individuals at protests in Detroit as conducting themselves in a peaceful and a non-violent manner. He called for such individuals to steer clear of the city, remarking, "my message is simple. If you want to disrupt, stay home and disrupt in your own community".

Despite Craig's declared support for peaceful protesters and their First Amendment rights, he and his department received criticism for their actions in handling such protesters. Filmmaker Kate Levy released a documentary in 2021 which both the Detroit Free Press'' and the Michigan chapter of the ACLU characterized as showing "shocking" evidence of police violence against protesters. ACLU Michigan published an opinion piece characterizing Craig's previous words of support for peaceful demonstrators as having been hallow, writing that with the release of the documentary, "the emptiness of words has been laid bare." The Detroit Board of Police Commissioners ruled for the facial recognition policies to be limited to still images of suspects in criminal investigations, which Craig welcomed and heralded.

Craig opposed calls from the First Trump Administration for the police department to assist in federal immigration enforcement, telling the Detroit City Council, quote|We don’t do the immigration police work — we’re not going to. When we do traffic stops, we’re not interested in immigration status He had previously met with Arizona Governor Doug Ducey, chair of the Republican Governors Association, and other Republican officials in talks about a potential run for governor of Michigan in 2022 against Democratic incumbent Gretchen Whitmer. On June 1, 2021, Craig retired after 44 years of service in law enforcement.

On September 14, 2021, Craig attempted to announce his bid for Governor on Belle Isle, but was unable to be heard due to the presence of protestors who surrounded him on the podium, chanting "No justice, no peace, James Craig is still police." He later made his official announcement atop a former General Motors building in Detroit. Craig was initially regarded to be the front-runner for the Republican nomination, receiving strong support among the state's Republican establishment (even receiving maximum individual contributions to his campaign committee from the state's two most-recent Republican governors: Rick Snyder and John Engler). He was also seen as having the advantage of being the only contender with large name recognition among a large field of Republican hopefuls.

During his campaign, Craig unsuccessfully sought the endorsement of Donald Trump, and declined to comment on Trump's claim that the 2020 presidential election was "stolen" from him. Meshawn Maddock (co-chair-elect of the Michigan Republican Party) brought Craig to visit Trump at Mar-a-Lago in mid-2021 in an effort to earn his favor. Craig, however, was passed-over by Trump for an endorsement.

In May 2022, amid questions over the legitimacy of some signatures on his nominating petitions, Craig acknowledged possible fraud by signature gatherers. State election officials ruled that Craig, alongside four other Republican primary candidates, had failed to submit enough valid signatures to appear on the ballot, thus rendering him ineligible to compete for the party nomination. Craig filed a lawsuit in a bid to get on the primary ballot, but the suit was rejected by the Michigan Court of Claims. Craig then launched a write-in campaign for the Republican primary nomination, but wasn't able to garner more than 2.1% of the vote with the effort.

2024 U.S. Senate campaign On October 3, 2023, Craig announced he would be running for the United States Senate in 2024. He faced fellow Republican Mike Rogers, Nikki Snyder, and several other candidates for the Republican nomination. On February 13, 2024, he announced that he was suspending his campaign. He, however, expressed interest in running for Detroit mayor in 2025.

2025 mayoral election

In March 2025, Craig announced his candidacy for mayor of Detroit, entering a field of candidates seeking to be elected as the successor of Duggan (who is not seeking re-election). The ballot in the election is nonpartisan, and the election will consist of a primary election followed by a general election between the top-two finishers.

Craig is the only candidate in the mayoral election who affiliates as a Republican. As a candidate, Craig has not distanced himself from his affiliation with the Republican Party or his past endorsements of Presidential Trump's campaigns (which all had received very little of the presidential vote in Detroit). Rather, Craig has touted these as strengths, arguing that he it would enable him to greater advocate to Trump on behalf of the city more effectively than other mayoral candidates might, touting himself as offering the city a "direct link" to the Trump White House.

Craig is regarded to have launched his campaign with the benefit of having some of the strongest name recognition among mayoral contenders. He was regarded to be one of the three best-known names to in the field of candidates, along with City Council President Mary Sheffield and pastor Solomon Kinloch Jr.

Political views and ideology Party affiliation and ideology Craig considers himself to be a conservative and is a member of the Republican Party. He has endorsed presidential candidacies of Donald Trump,

While serving as a police chief in Portland, Cincinnati, and Detroit, Craig kept his personal political affiliation private, Without offering alternatives to her actions, Craig has offered criticism of Whitmer's actions in restricting in-person school instruction and restricting the operations of non-essential businesses during periods of the pandemic.