By MIKE RAMSEY, The Associated Press
DETROIT (AP) -- Ella Bully-Cummings was appointed Detroit’s interim police chief Monday, becoming the first woman to hold the department’s top post.
Bully-Cummings, 46, replaces Jerry Oliver, who resigned on Friday after reports that he failed to declare a loaded pistol in his checked luggage on an Oct. 18 flight. On Monday, Oliver was charged with a misdemeanor count of possession of an unlicensed handgun.
Oliver said the distraction caused by the incident made it too difficult to implement needed changes in the department.
Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick said he will not conduct a search for a chief other than Bully-Cummings. He would not say how long her interim period would last before she is permanently named chief.
Bully-Cummings, who joined the department in 1977 as a 19-year-old rookie, promised the audience at a Monday evening press conference: “We will be the model police agency in this country.
“The most important thing the mayor said today and Friday was this is a change in leadership, not direction. This department is headed on the right path,” she said.
Bully-Cummings said she, Oliver and the department’s command staff have effected tremendous change and that would continue. After a federal investigation into the department, Detroit officials agreed in June to two consent decrees from the U.S. Justice Department that called for an independent monitor to oversee operations.
Bully-Cummings said she has been part of the administrative team that handled disciplinary cases within the department for the past year and a half. There are more than 900 active cases against Detroit police officers, ranging in importance from minor misconduct to felonies, she said.
“These cases will be brought to a conclusion and new ones will be opened up if officers commit crimes,” she said.
“I have a reputation for being tough but that toughness is tempered with fairness.”
Oliver, 56, is expected to stay on staff for a short period to help with the transition.
He stepped down a day after Wayne County prosecutor Michael Duggan told the former chief’s lawyer that Oliver would be charged with a misdemeanor. The federal Transportation Safety Administration has already announced it will fine Oliver for failing to declare the gun.
“It doesn’t matter who you are,” Duggan said. “If you do not license your handgun ... I am going to charge you.”
Oliver, who faces up to 90 days in jail if convicted, is expected to be arraigned this week.
His attorney, Anthony Chambers, said he was aware that the charge was expected but couldn’t comment on specifics.
“We’ve cooperated with this investigation at all stages, and we continue to do so,” Chambers said.
Oliver, the chief since January 2002, said he didn’t think he had to register the personal weapon in Michigan, where he was in the process of becoming a licensed, sworn police officer. He has been a sworn officer in other departments and said he has had the gun for years.
By the time of his resignation, Oliver had passed written and firearms tests for out-of-state officers said David King, a spokesman for the Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standards.
The only item outstanding on Oliver’s application was a required medical screening, which was in process at the time, he said.
Bully-Cummings issued a blanket warning Monday that officers on the force who may expect things to return to the pre-Oliver system were in for a surprise. She specifically chastised officers who were seen celebrating following Oliver’s resignation announcement.
“The behavior we witnessed on Friday was unprofessional,” she said. “It was a setback to this department and doesn’t reflect the image we want to project.”
Both the Detroit Police Command Officers Association and the Detroit Police Officers Association responded favorably to the appointment.
“We look forward to working together to achieve the goals of protecting and serving the citizens, businesses and visitors of the City of Detroit,” the command officers association said in a statement.
Marty Bandemer, president of the police officers association, said, “We appreciate the appointment of Chief Bully-Cummings because we hope that someone who has risen through the ranks of the department, as she has, will have the sensitivity to better understand the needs of our officers and the struggles they face in protecting and serving the citizens of Detroit.”
City councilwoman Alberta Tinsley-Talabi praised the mayor’s decision.
“I think that the mayor made a very, I would say, courageous decision and I say that because stepping out and bringing in a woman into this position kind of reflects his elevation of women in general,” Tinsley-Talabi said.
“This person comes with 110 percent of the qualifications to do the job for our citizens.”
Kilpatrick called Bully-Cummings’ rise within the department “meteoric.”
She held positions of lieutenant, inspector and commander before becoming an acting assistant chief in 1998. All the while, Bully-Cummings was working on a law degree. She later retired from the force to become a defense attorney for a private firm. Her retirement would be short-lived, however, as she was asked to return as an assistant chief.
“It was Jerry Oliver who convinced me to return,” she said.
Community policing, crime prevention, educational programs and professional accountability will continue to be top priorities for the department, Bully-Cummings said.