DETROIT (WXYZ) — James White was 10 years old when a Detroit police officer stood in his family home, sharing news he could not comprehend.
His uncle — the man who helped raise him — had been murdered. White’s grandmother collapsed, he recalled, and he began to sob.
But in a moment that would define his future, White watched as that officer began to console his grandmother, then picked him up off the ground.
“Here’s this huge figure who’s comforting her and then ultimately comforting me,” White recalled. “That stayed with me my entire life and it’s with me right now.”
Twenty years later, White would become a Detroit cop himself. He started at the city’s 6th Precinct and rose quickly through the ranks.
Frequently, he was tasked with cleaning up the department’s messes. When the Department of Justice stepped in in the early 2000s over concerns about unconstitutional policing, White helped put the reforms in place that brought an end to government oversight.
When delays in 911 response times were exposed, it was White who put the plan together to quicken police responses.
“Those folks aren’t calling 911 because they want to know what the weather is,” White told Channel 7’s Ross Jones during an interview Thursday. “They’re having the worst day of their life.”
Previous coverage: Detroit Police Chief White addresses city for first time since announcement of new role
During his three-and-a-half years as chief, White seldom defended the status quo.
He revamped the department’s disciplinary policies, creating systems to flag concerning officer behavior. He pushed for diversity and equity in who he hired and how his officers were trained, and sidelined officers when they crossed the line.
“I have a community that’s diverse and it’s also a significant number of people of color,” White said.
“And I have a duty and responsibility that I take very seriously to serve them with integrity and decency. And so for those who say: ‘You’re too socially conscious.’ I would just want to know: as opposed to what?”
It seldom made him friends. Unlike the man he replaced, Chief James Craig, White was never considered “a cop’s cop” among the rank and file. Some said his harsh discipline didn’t allow officers to do their job.
“I’m not too concerned about… being a 'cop’s cop.' I want to be everybody’s chief,” White said. “Cops, the community. And I think in large part, my officers feel supported. I think in large part, they have confidence in me.”
White was more analytical than most chiefs, relying on data to drive down Detroit’s crime, now at levels not seen since the year he was born.
“My process in policing has always been different than my predecessor,” he said. “And that doesn’t mean that his is better and mine’s worse. I’m more data-driven, process-oriented. I like to build out systems.”
But as proud as he is at the city’s progress, he’s the first to admit that gun violence in Detroit is nowhere near under control.
“We are obsessed with guns in this country,” White said. “My position on guns: you have a constitutional right to carry. You have to do so legally. And that’s it. That’s how I feel.”
White leaves DPD to lead the state’s largest community mental health system, so perhaps it’s no coincidence that his two darkest days as chief came from violence borne from mental health crises.
The first was the murder of officer Loren Courts, shot and killed by a man who had sought and never received mental health treatment.
Then just last month as he completed his interview to lead the Detroit Wayne Integrated Health Network, White learned that one of his sergeants was hunkered down in an abandoned building in Highland Park, taking aim at two of his officers.
“I went to that scene from my interview in the suit that I wore at my interview,” White said, describing the surreal moment. “So all of that was in my head… For me, at that moment, I knew this was something I need to do.”
White’s new job starts later this month. On Friday, he wound down his old one, noting that crime is down virtually across the board.
His tenure was so successful that earlier this year, he was invited to the White House by the president himself, touting the strategies he helped put into place.
“I think about that kid whose mom or grandmother was crying and this officer,” White said. “lifting her off the ground and picking me up.”
“And to have gone full circle and to be in that moment is the single proudest moment…that I’ve had.”
Contact 7 Investigator Ross Jones at ross.jones@wxyz.com or at (248) 827-9466.
