John Nichols

John Nichols (1918 – December 18, 1998) was an American law enforcement officer and politician who served as the sheriff of Oakland County, Michigan from 1985 to 1998. He previously served as the commissioner of the Detroit Police Department from 1970 to 1973, and the chief of police in Farmington Hills, Michigan from 1977 to 1985. He also unsuccessfully ran in the 1973 Detroit mayoral election, being narrowly defeated by Coleman Young.

Early life and education Nichols was born in 1918 in Detroit's southwest side's Hungarian community. Nichols was only the second rank-and-file police officer of the department to ever rise to serve as its head and received praise from police unions. Nichols publicly defended the controversial program.

As police commissioner, he played himself in the blaxsploitation film Detroit 9000.

On September 21, 1973, amid Nichols' general election campaign for mayor, Mayor Gribbs fired Nichols as police commissioner, after Nichols had refused to tender his resignation at Gribbs' request. Gribbs had ousted Nichols out of a desire to separate the city election's politics and the operations of the Detroit Police Department separate. He also did so out of the belief that campaigning in a general election would be more demanding of Nichols than running in the primary had been, and that it would take him away from his duties as police commissioner.

1973 Detroit mayoral campaign

In 1973, Nichols ran a "law-and-order" centered campaign for mayor of Detroit. He narrowly lost to Coleman Young.

Young ran, in part, on a platform to abolish the police department's STRESS unit. Nichols was reelected three times. In each of his elections, with the exception of his 1996 reelection to a fourth term, he was the county's highest vote-getter. Nichols was the father to several children. Following his death, James A. McClear of the Detroit Free Press wrote, "described as a crusty warrior who gave as much loyalty as he demanded, Nichols earned a reputation for honesty during his more than 55 years as a police officer." Obituaries described him as being bluntly spoken. More than 1,000 attended his funeral.