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) for 28 years.
During part of his tenure in Los Angeles, Craig served as president of the Oscar Joel Bryant Foundation, a Black officer's association with a membership of approximately 500. As president of the association, Craig downplayed accusations of institutional racism within the LAPD, commenting several weeks after the beating of Rodney King, "I believe that there are individuals who have racist attitudes, but racism is not widespread throughout the department." Several members of the association disagreed with this statement by Craig, and left the association in protest of it.
During his tenure in Los Angeles, Craig ascended ranks to become a captain. He served as a commanding officer, overseeing many of the more violent areas of the city, and received credit for crime-reduction using community-partnerships strategies that received praise for being "innovative". He ended his LAPD career as the commanding officer for West Los Angeles.
Chief of the Portland (Maine) Police Department (2009–11) From 2009 to 2011, Craig was police chief for the Portland Police Department in Portland, Maine, leaving the LAPD to take the appointment. Craig was the first Black chief in the history of the department. 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, emphasizing command accountability and problem-solving. Some who praise his tenure have characterized this as contributing to a 10% violent crime reduction in the city. Craig also established a "Chief’s Community Advisory Board" to advise the department's community policing efforts.
One of Craig's responsibilities as chief was to approve concealed carry pistol licenses. He later recounted that it was during this time that his thinking on politics made him decide to privately identify as a Republican, as he believed Republicans more aligned with his newly-acquired strong support for individual rights to gun ownership, viewing commonplace gun ownership by law-abiding citizens to be a deterrent to crime.
At the time he was chief in Portland, the federal government (under the early Obama Administration) and several state governments at the time were considering reducing sentences for some drug offenses as part of greater efforts to address racial disparities caused by sentencing. One such move under consideration at the time had been lowering the sentencing for certain crimes connected to crack cocaine (for which persons of color are a disproportionate share of convicts) to be more in-line with the less harsh penalties of similar crimes connected to powder cocaine. However, Craig instead advocated that rather than lower crack cocaine sentences, Maine should instead harshen its sentences for powder cocaine crimes and reclassify several misdemeanor crimes connected to powder cocaine as felony crimes. Craig's suggestion was derided by Stanley Gerzofsky (the Maine Senate chair of the Maine Legislature's Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee), who opposed enhancing drug crimes and argued that past enhancement of drug crimes in Maine had resulted in an ongoing issue of over-incarceration.
Chief of the Cincinnati Police Department (2011–13) From 2011 to 2013, Craig was chief of police for the Cincinnati Police Department in Cincinnati, Ohio. He took office in 2013, succeeding Tom Streicher's twelve-year tenure. 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.
As chief, Craig received praise from the local Fraternal Order of Police for alterations he made to the department's officer uniforms, and changes to the policy on the length of work shifts.
Craig has received criticism for not acknowledging the impacts that institutional racism might have in the department, something which some organizations and community advocates in Cincinnati viewed to have been a missed opportunity. One such organization is the Sentinel Police Association, which represented the department's Black officers. Phil Black, the president of the association during Craig's tenure, criticized him for having failed to take action "level the playing field" within the department or address unfair disciplinary practices within the department. Other leaders of the association have criticized Craig's tenure for a lack of promotion of minority officers, arguing that when Craig appointed minority officers to new roles, he mainly only shuffled roles held by female and Black officers that were already in senior roles, as opposed to giving promotion to minority rank-and-file officers.
Craig departed Cincinnati after two years in order to accept appointment to the chief of police post in Detroit. He was succeeded as Cincinnati's chief by Jeffery Blackwell.
Chief of the Detroit Police Department (2013–21)
After he had initially worked with the Detroit Police Department earlier in his career, Craig had said he wouldn't go back to work for them unless he was offered the role of police chief. 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.
Ahead of his tenure, the department that had seen high turnover in its leadership, with Craig being the city's fifth police chief in the same number of years. However, Craig's tenure ultimately disrupted this pattern of quick turnover, and he became the city's second-longest serving chief of police. He served until retiring in 2021.
When taking the position of chief 2013, Craig pledged to seek re-certification as a police officer in Michigan (as his previous certification had expired). However, he never followed-through on this. His lack of certification as an officer while chief would be reported on in October 2021 (several months after his retirement), generating some controversy for him.
In January 2016, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan designated Craig to additionally hold the role of deputy mayor. Craig held this additional role for only a brief period of time.
Violent crime In his first year as chief, homicide cases made a ten percent drop, from 332 to 300, between the year 2013 and 2014. In early 2014, Craig made national headlines for saying more armed citizens would decrease the crime rate. 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%.Steve Neavling, Duggan blasts Craig's leadership as Detroit police chief amid wave of violence, Detroit Metro Times (March 10, 2022). Craig blamed the COVID-19 pandemic and George Floyd riots for the increase in crime.
In 2020, Craig criticized the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives,Tresa Baldas, Detroit Police Chief James Craig blasts feds over serial killings: 'Own it', Detroit Free Press (March 3, 2022). alleging that the two federal agencies had used Kenyel Brown as an informant. Craig pulled Detroit police officers out of a longstanding DEA-Detroit PDF task force. Craig also clashed with local judges and the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office, viewing bonds set for defendants as too low, and plea agreements and sentences too lenient.George Hunter, Craig, Worthy spar over violent criminal plea deals, Detroit News (August 29, 2020). County Prosecutor Kym Worthy responded by suggesting that the police department's investigations were often inadequate, and upon Craig's departure as chief suggested that Craig was a "glory seeker."
At times, Craig made headlines by describing people involved in mass shootings in the city as "urban terrorists". 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. At both the first year and the last year of Craig's tenure, Detroit was ranked by the FBI as the most violent large city in the United States.
Response Times and Project Green Light