DEARBORN —  Detroit Police Chief James Craig met with dozens of the City’s business owners at Byblos Banquet Hall on Monday Sept. 30, to discuss public safety and partnership between police and the business community.

Craig, who was appointed as Detroit’s police chief in May, urged owners to keep a “clean business environment.”

“Dirty environment is an invitation to crime,” he said. “The environment in and around the gas stations, or the party stores, has a great impact on the place’s safety.”

When asked for guidelines for better business, the chief said that police are looking to work with business owners to guide them to have “model businesses.”

“I believe in working in partnerships. We’re all in this together. We want a safer Detroit,” he added.

He explained that “neighborhood police officers” would be inspecting party stores and gas stations to make suggestions to business owners. The chief said if businesses do not comply with these suggestions, they could be fined.

“A clean environment is a safe environment,” he said. “I have seen some gas stations in the City, where I wouldn’t go alone, and I am always armed.”

Craig mentioned selling loose cigarettes and allowing loitering, as examples of creating a bad business environment.

Some owners in attendance were not fully pleased with the chief’s comments, feeling that he was putting the burden of responsibility for safety on them.

“We don’t make money selling ‘loosies’ for 25 cents,” one gas station owner remarked. “But if a guy has no money for a pack and I do not sell him a loose cigarette, he will destroy my station, and the police will not come in time to stop him.” 

Another owner said that he and his employees are too scared to leave the cashier’s bullet-proof counter, which he described as a prison, to even mop the floor.

Police Chief Craig addresses the crowd of business owners at Byblos on Monday.

Craig acknowledged the hardships that businesses face, especially in rough neighborhoods, but added, “We are in crisis. We must work together to come up with solutions. If we change the situation in gas stations, we will win. The system is broken, and we are in the process of fixing it. Our 2,300 officers cannot be everywhere. But certain behavior attracts criminal activity.”

He stressed on the importance of having gas stations and party stores in Detroit, because they are sources of food and basic goods to many people in the community.

A gas station owner told the chief that he has called 911 to report criminal activities outside his business, but when the police did show up, they did not stop the young men, who were selling weed outside the station.

The chief was in a state of disbelief that police officers would watch criminal activity in progress.

“If something like this happens, I want to know about it. Call the community liaison, and we will follow up,” he added.

The number to the community liaison is 313-596-5522. Craig’s email address is Chiefofpolice@dpdhq.ci.detroit.mi.us.

“If you have an accent, police do not show up,” a man in attendance complained against Detroit Police.

Craig said he finds it “troubling” that police would not assist a caller because of his accent, urging people who suspect discrimination by the police to contact him.

The chief, who has been leading a staff shakeup in the Detroit Police Department, said he plans on overhauling the communications process in the department, to ensure greater community engagement.

The police divide Detroit into 13 areas, with a captain leading the force in each precinct.

Craig said he will dispatch each captain to communicate with his or her precinct’s businesses.

The chief told business owners to contact Telephone Crime Reporting at 313-267-4600, instead of 911, in non-emergency situations, to get more adequate help and lower the pressure on emergency operators.

He acknowledged past shortcomings of police in Detroit, but promised improvements.

“I don’t doubt for a second that things have been bad,” he said. “But you’ve got to give me a chance to correct the wrongs of the past.”

Craig added that he has an “iron fist” policy against neglect in the police department, citing that two police employees are facing criminal charges for not handling an emergency call properly.

However, the chief praised his understaffed department. “They are some of the finest men and women I have ever worked with,” he said.

Craig started his career as a police officer in Detroit in 1977. He spent 28 years in the Los Angeles Police Department, working in the City’s most violent neighborhoods. He also served as the police chief of Portland, Maine and Cincinnati, Ohio, before coming back to the Detroit Police, as chief, in May.

He says violent crime has gone down in Detroit in the second half of the year, since he assumed his post, but the decrease is not very significant because people are still scared.

In responding to complaints about homeless people soliciting in gas stations, Craig said the homeless problem is not exclusive to Detroit and could only be solved in cooperation with the local community.

The discussion was organized by the Tri-County Business Committee and sponsored by Chase Cash and Carry, Garden Foods and Byblos Banquet Hall.

Nasser Beydoun, the CEO of EZ Business Solutions, welcomed the chief and asked him to implement consistent policies to make sure businesses and their clients and employees are safe.

“We are all rooting for Detroit to take its place as a great American city once again,” Beydoun said. “But safety is key to prosperity.”

Chaker Aoun, the chairman of the Tri-County Business Committee, also stressed the notion of consistency, adding that there has been “ups and downs” with safety in Detroit.

“We want the police to make Detroit a better place for business, by responding fast enough and being present around gas stations,” he said.