Detroit Police Chief James Craig is calling for Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s (D-MI) resignation after Tlaib tweeted last week that there should be “no more police.”
“I’d love to see her resign, I’d throw her a goodbye party,” Craig told WJBK on Sunday. “Let her go. Who is she speaking for Charlie? Let me just say this, when you talk about abolishing police, incarceration, you talk about safe cities — what do you think the residents in Detroit want?”
Tlaib received a lot of pushback, even from members within her own party, for her tweet last week that said policing is “inherently and intentionally racist.”
“It wasn’t an accident. Policing in our country is inherently & intentionally racist,” Tlaib tweeted. “Daunte Wright was met with aggression & violence. I am done with those who condone government-funded murder.”
“No more policing, incarceration, and militarization. It can’t be reformed,” she added.
Craig, who is black himself and police chief in the largest majority-black city in America, earlier in the week dismissed Tlaib’s tweet as a “disgusting, knee-jerk response.”
There is a longstanding feud between Craig and Tlaib due to Tlaib’s criticism of Craig’s policies.
In one dispute in October 2019, Tlaib told Craig he should hire only black analysts to the police department’s facial recognition team after criticizing the technology in a tweet, saying, “@detroitpolice You should probably rethink this whole facial recognition bull—-.”
Tlaib also called for an independent investigation in Detroit in September 2020, calling for an independent probe of police action at protests regarding “excessive use of force” on protesters, the Detroit News reported.
Craig responded that other than one incident where an officer was suspended and charged with three felonies, his officers had not used “excessive force” since the demonstrations that started in May 2020 over George Floyd’s death.
Craig supports the 2nd amendment right to conceal carry and also uses video cam footage in high-crime areas to supplement the limited police force in Detroit, all policies which Tlaib opposes.
The rift between Tlaib and Craig over their differences in policy goes even further than just the two of them.
In December 2020, the city of Detroit issued a lawsuit against a local Black Lives Matter group, the Intercept reported.