Detroit mayor makes interim police chief’s job permanent; city’s 4th chief in 2 years

Detroit interim police chief’s job made permanent

DETROIT — Mayor Dave Bing on Tuesday named the city’s interim police chief to the role permanently, saying the new chief has shown he can “deliver the results” the city deserves.

Ralph Godbee took over the job this summer after Bing fired his predecessor, Warren Evans, who held the job for just over a year. Bing, in a statement, said he chose Godbee to run Detroit’s police operations after a 60-day search.

“Chief Godbee has demonstrated that he can deliver the results this administration expects and our residents deserve,” Bing said in a statement. “Nothing is more important than making Detroit a safe city.”

Evans, a former Wayne County sheriff, was appointed chief by Bing in 2009 and fired after he raised the mayor’s ire by taking part in a promotional video for a cable police reality show. Bing later said he also fired Evans because the chief was romantically involved with a subordinate, Lt. Monique Patterson.

Godbee, too, had a romantic relationship with Patterson before she began dating Evans and when she was Godbee’s subordinate, her lawyer recently said. The prior relationship between Godbee and Patterson was disclosed publicly after Godbee was named interim chief, and Bing issued a strongly worded statement after its disclosure saying he wasn’t considering firing Godbee for having an affair with a subordinate.

Godbee declined Tuesday to discuss the past relationship with Patterson, citing the possibility of litigation.

Bing’s spokeswoman, Karen Dumas, said there were a “variety of factors” that led to Evans’ removal.

“It wasn’t the relationship itself,” Dumas wrote in an e-mail to The Associated Press. “Rather, it was the misuse of professional authority for the benefit of a personal relationship. Chief Godbee’s support from, and connection to, the community confirms his selection as chief to be in the best interest of the city and administration.”

Godbee, 42, joined the department in 1987 and rose to assistant chief in 2007. He later retired only to be reappointed assistant chief in July 2009 when Evans was hired.

Bing said his chief has continued the department’s data-driven approach to targeting areas of the city seeing spikes in violent and other crimes

Godbee inherits a department that has gone through three police chiefs over the past two years and is under a 2003 federal consent decree over the use of force and the treatment of crime suspects.

Ella Bully-Cummings retired in September 2008 about the time disgraced ex-mayor Kwame Kilpatrick resigned after pleas in two criminal cases.

Kilpatrick’s replacement, then-City Council President Ken Cockrel Jr., appointed James Barren chief. Barren, in turn, was fired in early July 2009 shortly after Bing was elected mayor in a May special runoff election.

Bing tapped Evans to take an aggressive approach to crime in the city and make sure the police department complies with the consent decree.

That job now falls to Godbee, who said Tuesday that his goal is to have the police department in compliance by July 2011.

“I understand the magnitude of the challenges that lie ahead,” Godbee said earlier in his statement. “However, I am extremely optimistic that the goal of a safer Detroit is a reality as we continue to strengthen our police community relations’ efforts and utilize a data-driven approach toward the delivery of law enforcement services.”