Law / Politics
Isaiah McKinnon
born 1943 · police officer, police chief, deputy mayor, professor
One of Detroit's first Black police officers, nearly killed by fellow officers during the 1967 uprising, who rose to chief of police (1993–1998) and later served as deputy mayor.
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Isaiah McKinnon was born in Montgomery, Alabama, and grew up in Detroit, where at fourteen, in 1957, he was beaten by police officers on his way home from school, an experience that made him resolve to join the force and change it. After four years in the Air Force, including service in the Philippines and Vietnam, he joined the Detroit Police Department in 1965, among its first African American officers. During the July 1967 uprising, driving home in uniform after an eighteen-hour shift, he was pulled over and shot at by white officers, an attack later reported around the world. He stayed on the force, earning degrees from Mercy College of Detroit and a doctorate from Michigan State, left in 1984 for private security and teaching, and returned as chief of police from 1993 to 1998 under Mayor Dennis Archer. He taught at the University of Detroit Mercy and from 2013 to 2016 served as deputy mayor under Mike Duggan.
Highlights
- Chief of the Detroit Police Department, 1993–1998
- Deputy mayor of Detroit, 2013–2016
- Among the first African American officers in the Detroit police (1965)
- Survived being shot at by fellow officers during the 1967 uprising
- Professor at the University of Detroit Mercy
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Worked here · 2000s–2010s
University of Detroit Mercy
He taught here as a professor; his master's came from Mercy College of Detroit, one of its predecessors.