The deputy mayor will begin serving as Detroit’s interim police chief next month

DETROIT. When the city’s new interim police chief takes the job next month, he said he will continue his long-standing efforts to build partnerships between law enforcement and the community to reduce crime in Detroit.

“Collaboration is the key,” Detroit Deputy Mayor and longtime Detroit Police Director Todd Bettison said during a press conference Friday at Detroit’s Public Safety Headquarters, during which Mayor Mike Duggan introduced him as the city’s interim police chief.

“When we see the community and police working together for public safety as our north star, we can come together and learn to trust each other,” Bettison told dozens of people at the news conference. “That’s why Detroit is seeing historic lows in crime reduction.”

Police Chief James White last week was named CEO of the Detroit Wayne Integrated Health Network. The chief, who is a licensed mental health therapist, is a 28-year veteran of the Detroit Police Department who was named Detroit’s 43rd police chief in August 2021 after serving as interim chief for two months. White was deputy chief from 2012 until August 2020, when he left to lead the Michigan Department of Civil Rights.

Bettison said he will begin his new duties on Nov. 11, the day after White’s last day as chief. A nationwide search for a permanent top cop will begin as soon as Detroit police commissioners select a search firm, board Chairman Darryl Woods said.

Bettison said Friday that he “absolutely” wants a permanent job.

“I’m definitely here to compete,” Bettison said. “I truly believe I’m the best person to be permanent chief because I’m already here… so I definitely say yes, I want to lead this police department.”

Background Bettison

Bettison worked for the Detroit Police Department for 27 years before leaving in 2022 to become deputy mayor. He started working in the department in 1994 as a patrol officer, according to his biography on the city’s website, within five years he was promoted to sergeant, and a year later to lieutenant. After leaving the department, he was the first deputy chief.

Since becoming deputy mayor, Bettison has served as Duggan’s point person on community issues, including efforts to find jobs for Detroit residents and “Shot Stoppers” violence intervention program.

During Friday’s news conference, Duggan praised Bettison’s work in the community.

“Every time things were going bad, he would go to the community and say, ‘We failed,’” the mayor said, adding that Bettison was instrumental in “transforming this department.”

“People thought that if you cooperated with the community, crime would go up because you would be soft on crime,” Duggan said. “We showed the opposite and last year we had the fewest homicides since 1966.”

Bettison was also responsible for overseeing the protests that continued in the late spring and summer of 2020 following the death of George Floyd, who was killed by a Minneapolis police officer during an arrest on May 25, 2020. Bettison cried during a press conference after one of the protests because he said that after he knelt with protesters, someone in the crowd threw a projectile at officers, prompting police to use tear gas.

“In 2020, when there was a lot of civil unrest, we talked to people in Detroit and they said, ‘Not in our city,’ when it comes to tearing down and destroying things,” Bettison recalled during a press conference Friday. “And we didn’t have the problems that other cities had.”

Others react

Community activist Maurice “Pastor Mo” Hardwick said Bettison helped him on numerous occasions without fanfare.

“One time I got a call at four in the morning from a guy who told me, ‘I’m going to blow up the police, churches and schools,’” Hardwick recalled. “The man was a little crazy, but he wasn’t that crazy, his sister was displaced. … I called Todd Bettison and he got out of bed. We went to see this man and he went out of his pocket to put his sister in a hotel.

“Another time there was a young lady in Rouge Park who was shot during a basketball game. She had seven to nine children who saw her murdered,” Hardwick said. “They slept on an air mattress in the pantry and had to go to school and take algebra after seeing their mother murdered in cold blood. I picked up the phone and called Todd Bettison; met me that day… and went into his pocket, gave me $500 and we have these people in the house. This is the boss you will have.

White said he has worked well with Bettison over the years and that the police force will be in good hands when he leaves for a new position.

“Todd is a partner,” White said. “He has been a partner since I joined the department, not just when I was head. I’m very proud to hand over this agency to him, even though I don’t really hand it over because he hasn’t been anywhere. “

White told the man who would temporarily replace him, “Now that you’re officially home, I want to be a partner to you, just like you were with me. If you need me, I’m just a phone call away. “

White also said he would help Detroit police in his new position as head of the county’s largest mental health agency.

“I will do everything in my power to provide you with resources so that we can stop seeing these people with mental illness in police raids,” White said.

A national search begins

Woods, the police board chairman, said the board will launch a nationwide search once it selects a firm to interview.

“The city charter says we have to do a national search, and we already have that done,” Woods said. “We have established a committee to find a search firm and then we will make every effort to interview some of the best candidates in the country. It will be a fair and transparent process.”

Forest, who spent 29 years in prison for murder before former Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder commuted his sentence in 2019, he said Bettison helped him with a literacy program while the police commission chairman was still in prison.

“He’s a powerful leader,” Woods said of Bettison. “He came to the prison and worked with us and the NAACP on a program that helped the youth. We worked together to help save the lives of so many young people who had gone astray. This is a powerful selection (for interim boss), and once we sort this out, we’ll see if there’s anyone better.

In 2007, when he was chief of the police department, Bettison found himself at the center of controversy after crashing an unmarked official vehicle into a utility pole on Detroit’s east side. Bettison, who was off-duty, later pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of driving while intoxicated after originally being charged with driving under the influence and carrying a weapon while intoxicated, which were also misdemeanors.

According to Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, an empty wine bottle was found on the passenger floor of Bettison’s car and three identical bottles were found on the ground in front of the vehicle. Worthy said a Detroit police supervisor visited Bettison at the hospital before removing the bottles from the scene. The superior was charged with tampering with evidence, misconduct in the performance of official duties and neglect of duty, although a jury acquitted him.

Detroit Police Commissioner Ricardo Moore, a former Detroit police officer, said Bettison “rose above this incident.”

“He was able to put it behind him,” Moore said. “I think Todd is a great choice.

The commissioner said he and Bettison were under the care of former Detroit Police Chief and Wayne County Sheriff Benny Napoleon, who died in December 2020.

“Benny allowed us both to pursue our own career paths, and Todd’s career has been great,” Moore said.

Former Detroit Deputy Police Chief Steve Dolunt, who worked with Bettison for years before retiring in 2017, said he doesn’t expect the new interim top cop to make any major changes.

“Everything seems to be going in the right direction. Crime is down and I don’t see him wavering,” Dolunt said.

The new interim chief holds a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Wayne State University and a graduate certificate from Wayne State’s Mike Ilitch School of Business, according to his biography. According to his biography, he is also a graduate of Eastern Michigan University’s Police Staff and Command School.

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