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Local journalist Aaron Foley today brings Forbes readers up to speed on Detroit's hot news. (Is it just us, or does that arctic stuff already seem so last month?)
Police Chief James Craig has a credibility challenge posed by the inquiry into George Cushingberry's case, Aaron Foley writes in a national business magazine.
He mainly focuses, of course, on the headline-dominating councilman whose late-night encounter with police reinforces an image Detroit has trouble shaking.
The world is watching Detroit, not unlike an action movie filled with edge-of-your-seat suspense.
As the largest city thus far to file for a municipal bankruptcy, troubled cities elsewhere are hawking over the doings of the city’s emergency manager, Kevyn Orr. And persistent curiosity of potential new residents keeps other onlookers tuned in. When news breaks in Detroit, it’s going to break everywhere. . . .
Echoes of the “same ol’ Detroit” rung clear when a new councilman, veteran politico George Cushingberry, Jr., was stopped by police for suspicion of drunken driving. . . . But it’s not Cushingberry’s future Detroit should be concerned about. That night, Cushingberry was not given a field sobriety test and instead given a traffic citation.
The failure here rests solely on the shoulders of Detroit Police Chief James Craig and his supervisors [Mayor Mike] Duggan and Orr — more Orr than Duggan. It wouldn’t be the first time that a top-ranking city official has skated after a police stop. . . . The intermingling of the police department and city administration has given way to lots of dirt under the rug.
The outcome of an internal inquiry into Cushingberry’s case, Foley explains to outsiders, may affect Craig's credibility and "could cloud his leadership before other initiatives get off the ground."
Craig hit Detroit’s ground running after taking over the top spot [last June], enacting a series of raids in drug-soaked neighborhoods and apartment buildings and sweeping criminals off the streets. But Detroit has a track record of overpromising, short-lived police chiefs, having gone through five chiefs in five years.
In addition to contributing to Forbes, Foley blogs for Jalopnik Detroit and Gawker Media.
