LANSING — This morning, James Craig announced his Law Enforcement Action Team, citing a need for “leadership that understands the severity of the [law enforcement] problem.” His proposed plan is light on substance, instead focusing on a eight-year-old raid of a Detroit apartment building.
Craig touted his decision to storm the building as a show of force that communicated “what it meant to lead from the front.” In reality, it was just another show for the news cameras he invited to document the arrests that ultimately didn’t make the community any safer. Here’s the facts:
- Police made 30 arrests in the raid but 21 were wanted for traffic warrants – including a woman in her 60s who no longer drove. [Detroit Metro Times, 8/4/21]
- None of the eight individuals arrested on offenses higher than marijuana possession in the raid were ever convicted. [Detroit Metro Times, 8/4/21]
- “Crime persisted at Colony Arms” after Craig’s raid according to a building management employee who told police months later that “criminals here are out of control and the raid did NOTHING to stop them.” [Detroit Metro Times, 8/4/21]
- “The vast majority of those arrested in the [Colony Arms] raid were charged on low-level misdemeanor crimes or were brought in on old court writs.” [Periphery, May 2014]
- Days after the Colony Arms raid, “30 of the 33 people caught up in the sweep returned to the building.” [Periphery, May 2014]
- Most of those arrested were released without facing any additional legal repercussions – many were not even fined or given a record of their arrest. [Periphery, May 2014]
Additionally, Craig warned of the repercussions that would come from “not denouncing the anti-police movement,” but still refuses to condemn the insurrectionists (many of which hailed from Michigan) that brutally beat officers on January 6th on their path to breach the U.S. Capitol.
MDP spokesperson Rodericka Applewhaite released the following statement:
“In yet another example of James Craig putting politics first, he has once again sold Michiganders short in his Hollywood-like production to look tough on crime. This isn’t leadership, it’s showmanship, and his empty ‘plan’ will do little to make Michigan any safer.”
