When the Detroit Police Chief says he would try to avoid using gas stations inside City limits after 2:00 in the morning, things are bad.
(It's not some TV show thing. It's where opportunity meets criminal motive and violent methods.)
This is not news, in the sense that Chief Craig is not saying anything that is a surprise to locals. It's been true for some time.
However, the Chief is willing to be quoted on this in the local newspaper. Which is news, after a fashion.
This reminds me: whenever I notice Chief Craig in the news, I notice that he is trying to encourage people to trust him, and trust the Police.
When there are protests in town, he talks about letting people protest, but coming down hard on anyone using protests as an opportunity to commit crime.
When discussing crime, he wants citizens to know that he approves of law-abiding people carrying guns for personal protection.
And now, he admits that he shares fears that many local residents have. With a subtext of <i>I'm on your side, but I can't work miracles</i>.
I don't know anything about the day-to-day life of the Police Department. Or whether Craig can do much to change the crime in the City.
He's working with a force that has shrunken over time, suffers constant threat of funding problems, and deals with a wide variety of tasks. Detroit has an active Downtown region, sprawling neighborhoods that range from near-wasteland to mostly-inhabited, a busy border-crossing, a State University, a handful of casinos, and many other challenges.
It's a hard job, but Craig appears to be doing his best. And I, a resident of the suburbs, like that.
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