LANSING — According to public records, Republican candidate for governor James Craig was never a licensed officer for the entirety of his chief tenures at both the Detroit and Cincinnati Police Departments – spanning the final decade of his law enforcement career.
Speaking with Detroit Free Press upon his return to DPD in 2013, a DPD spokesperson said “Chief Craig voluntarily intends on completing the process to become a fully [Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standard] certified law enforcement officer.” New reporting from Michigan Radio indicates that that evidently never happened.
Licensed officers in Michigan are authorized to “fulfill duties of law enforcement such as issuing citations, making arrests, and serving warrants.” Craig, who re-joined DPD in 2013, had a “lapsed” certification status as determined by the Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standards, which last certified him in 1977.
During his brief stint as chief in Cincinnati (2011-2013), Craig was also not certified. Finding the certification test “overly time-consuming,” Craig filed an exemption with the Ohio Peace Officer Training Commission in his first month on the job, despite voluntarily signing a document that read “I must pass OPOTC state certification examination,” and ultimately appealed the Commission in court. He left CPD for Detroit immediately after his appeal was dismissed.
MDP spokesperson Rodericka Applewhaite issued the following statement:
“Republican James Craig is claiming to lead from the front, but this new report shows that for his last decade on the job he couldn’t live up to his own word, refusing to get certified even after he pledged to do so in 2013. Michiganders – many of whom are required to meet regular certification standards in their own professions – deserve answers from Craig on why he felt he was above the requirements completed by every other officer within both Detroit and Cincinnati’s police departments.”
