Detroit Police Department
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Detroit Police Department | |
| Abbreviation | DPD |
 |
|
| Patch of the Detroit Police Department. | |
| Motto | Making Detroit a safer place to live, work, and visit |
| Agency Overview | |
|---|---|
| Legal personality | Governmental: Government agency |
| Jurisdictional Structure | |
| Operations jurisdiction* | City of Detroit in the state of Michigan, United States |
| General nature |
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| Operational Structure | |
| Headquarters | 1300 Beaubien St. |
| Officers | ~3500 |
| Facilities | |
| Districts |
6
Central
Eastern Northeastern 12th Precinct 10th Precinct Southwestern |
| Website | |
| Detroit Police Department | |
| Footnotes | |
| * Divisional agency: Division of the country, over which the agency has usual operational jurisdiction. | |
The Detroit Police Department serves the city of Detroit, Michigan. The department was founded in 1865 to serve the city's growing population and covers the city with 5 districts and two precincts.
Contents |
[edit] History
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Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page. (May 2009) |
[edit] Fallen Officers
The department has lost 6 officers between the years 2000 and 2007. The 1970's were hard on the department with 26 officers killed in a span of ten years. Since 1878, The Detroit Police Department has lost 223 officers in the line of duty.[1]
[edit] Recent History
On September 4th 2008 as court proceedings were going on for then-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, Ella M. Bully-Cummings annouced her retirement as the chief of police. She was the first female police chief in department history. During Ella M. Bully-Cummings tenure the rank and file of the police department experienced record low morale, due mostly to Bully-Cummings unwillingness to consult front line personnel before implenting policy changes, and her administration's rampant disregard for employee contractual rights[citation needed]. Many experts in the law enforcement community consider her to be one of the worst to serve in the postion of Chief of the Detroit Police Department[citation needed].
[edit] Reorganization
In 2000, the city requested an investigation by the United States Justice Department into the Detroit Police Department which was concluded in 2003 over allegations regarding its use of force and civil rights violations.[2] Despite the critics, the city proceeded with a major reorganization of the Detroit Police Department; simply put, the city seized the opportunity to trim its budget saving $20,000,000. The department's thirteen precincts were consolidated into six larger districts: central, southwestern, northeastern, eastern, western, and northwestern.
The reorganization has largely been hailed as a failure, with increased response times, higher call volumes, and less reliable patrol coverage. In 2009 in an attempt to rectify these problems Chief James Barren announced a plan to revert to the precinct system, and the Tenth and Twelve Precincts (formerly the Western District) reopened on February 2, 2009.[3]
[edit] Rank Structure and Insignia
| Title | Insignia |
|---|---|
| Chief |
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| Assistant Chief |
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| Deputy Chief |
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| Commander |
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| Inspector |
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| Captain |
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| Lieutenant |
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| Sergeant |
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| Police Officer |
[edit] Demographics
Breakdown of the makeup of the rank and file of DPD [4]:
- Male: 73%
- Female: 27%
- African-American/Black: 63%
- White: 34%
- Other: 3%
The Detroit Police Department has one of the largest percentages of sworn black officers of any major city police department. Incidentally, reports and allegations of racism and discrimination against whites and other non-African backgrounds have surfaced, even between employees of the department. Currently, 12 of the department's 15 upper command members including the chief, assistant chief of operations, assistant chief of administration, and all six of the department's district commanders are black [5]
[edit] Popular culture
- The Detroit Police Department is featured in the movie Robocop. In the movie, the police service has been privatized, serves the larger metro area, and is owned by the megacorpration OCP.
- The Detroit Police Department is featured in the 1973 blaxploitation film Detroit 9000 investigating the theft of a fundraiser for a Black Congressman looking to become Michigan's first Black Governor.
- The Detroit Police Department is a major focus of the 2005 film Four Brothers.
- The Detroit Police Department plays a major role as the police force featured in the film Assault on Precinct 13 (2005 film)
- The Detroit Police Department is featured in the 2002 film Narc (film) about two troubled detectives investigating the murder of an undercover cop.
- The Detroit Police Department are featured on the video game, Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition.
- The Detroit Police Department has its own edition of the A&E television series SWAT and has also been featured in the series The First 48.
- Detective Axel Foley from the Beverly Hills Cop (film series) is an officer of the Detroit Police Department, and the actor portraying his commanding officer was an actual Detroit police commander, Gil Hill.
- Detroit Police Officers often appear on the Animal Planet show Animal Cops Detroit, to help Michigan Humane Society officers in cases regarding animal abuse and neglect.
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- ^ "The Officer Down Memorial Page". http://www.odmp.org/agency/1000-detroit-police-department-michigan. Retrieved on 08-09-2008.
- ^ Quarterly Status Report to the Independent Federal Monitor. Detroit Police Department Retrieved on April 8, 2007.
- ^ Lin, Judy and David Joser, (August 30, 2005).Detroit to trim 150 cops, precincts. Detroit News. Retrieved on July 24, 2007.
- ^ Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics, 2000: Data for Individual State and Local Agencies with 100 or More Officers
- ^ Detroit Police Department Organizational Chart
