Law / Politics
James Craig
born 1956 · police chief, politician
Detroit-born Cass Tech graduate who spent 28 years in the LAPD, then led the Detroit Police Department after bankruptcy (2013–2021) before a series of Republican campaigns.
- Born
Detroit, Michigan- Birth name
- James E. Craig
- Also known as
- James E. Craig
- Detroit years
- 1956–1981, 2013–
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
James Craig was born and raised in Detroit; his father, an Army veteran, served as a reserve police officer during the 1967 uprising, when James was in fifth grade. He graduated from Cass Technical High School and joined the Detroit Police Department in 1977, but was laid off in the city's budget crisis of 1981 and moved to the Los Angeles Police Department, where he spent 28 years. He then became the first Black police chief in Portland, Maine, and in Cincinnati. In 2013, as Detroit entered bankruptcy, emergency manager Kevyn Orr brought him home to run the depleted department; he served until 2021, the second-longest tenure of any Detroit chief, winning credit for cutting response times and drawing criticism for his handling of 2020 protests. Retiring, he turned to Republican politics: his 2022 bid for governor ended when he was disqualified from the primary ballot over petition fraud by circulators, he withdrew from the 2024 U.S. Senate race, and he ran for mayor of Detroit in 2025.
Highlights
- Chief of the Detroit Police Department, 2013–2021
- 28 years with the Los Angeles Police Department
- First Black police chief in Portland, Maine, and Cincinnati
- Candidate for governor (2022) and mayor of Detroit (2025)
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.
Studied here · 1970s
Cass Technical High School
Detroit's selective public high school, from which he graduated before joining the police in 1977.