By Jeff Gerritt
Detroit Free Press
DETROIT — Wayne County Sheriff Warren Evans, expected to be named as Detroit’s new police chief today, is vowing to run an open, transparent and responsive department.
As a result, Evans said in an exclusive interview with the Free Press on Sunday, Detroiters can expect to see crime stats rise, at least in the short-term.
“Crime itself is not going to up, but crime is going to be reported better -- so, yes, crime stats will go up,” he said.
“I’m not blaming anyone -- there’s obviously a shortage of officers -- but when you talk to people in the community, it’s clear that crimes are not being reported. The only way to solve a problem is to know what you’re dealing with. There’s nothing more debilitating to people than to have their houses broken into and then not to have a proper response from the police. You feel doubly violated.”
Detroit Mayor Dave Bing plans to introduce Evans, 60, as his new chief at a news conference at 10 a.m. today in the mayor’s office. This follows the dismissal of the former chief, 57-year-old James Barren, last week.
Evans said under his leadership, the department will deal with crime candidly, which means accurately reporting numbers even when they embarrass the city.
“You never want to be the murder capital of anything,” Evans said Sunday.
Evans also said there needs to be more focus on nonfatal shootings, not just homicides.
“I don’t think someone’s aim should be the issue,” he said.
Focus on service, cooperation
Evans is taking over a department that’s riding a streak of bad news.
It has had to back away from initial crowing about low homicide numbers, and just last week, seven teenagers were shot in broad daylight on a west-side corner. Police have not charged anyone in the case.
In a wide-ranging interview with the Free Press on Sunday, Evans said the Detroit Police Department must improve police-community relations and use crime data to drive its efforts to reduce crime and improve homicide closure rates.
Now, arrests are made in only 37% of Detroit homicides, compared with more than 60% nationwide.
“The level of police services has to improve for people to feel better about the Police Department,” Evans said. “When citizens feel more positive about the Police Department, you get more information and your closure rates go up.”
Don’t just react to crime
The department must deploy officers in a more focused and selective way, dictated by crime data, he said, rather than simply reacting to crime.
Evans plans to work more closely with the Michigan Department of Corrections, for example, using its lists of parole and probation violators to target people more likely to commit crimes.
The Detroit Police Department deploys about half the number of sworn officers it did in the 1990s, and has lost roughly 1,000 officers over the last five years.
“It’s not always budget -- it’s also recruiting,” Evans said, adding that he would recruit harder for new officers inside and, if necessary, outside the city.
The city must collaborate with local, state and federal law enforcement agencies, Evans said. As sheriff, Evans helped lead several local, state and federal law enforcement sweeps that apprehended hundreds of fugitives a year and forged stronger working relationships among agencies.
“There are not enough resources for us to do the things we need to do, even collectively,” he said. “So it’s real important for agencies to collaborate. We’re too territorial in this business.”
Evans, 60, a lifelong Detroiter who has been sheriff since 2003, is to take over today, replacing fired Chief James Barren. Barren, 57, was appointed by former Mayor Ken Cockrel Jr. last fall. Mayor Dave Bing is to announce Evans’ appointment at 10 a.m. today.
Evans joined the Wayne County Sheriff’s Department in 1970 and worked his way up the ranks. He also earned a law degree and worked as chief of special operations for the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office.
‘A long way to go’
A top priority, Evans said, is getting the Police Department in line with a federal consent decree, signed in 2003, that mandates reforms in the way crimes are reported and investigated.
“It’s taking a lot of resources from the City of Detroit,” he said. “The city agreed to fix these problems. It’s our obligation to fix them. We’re probably less than 50% compliant right now. So there’s a long way to go, but we’re going to get it behind us.”
Evans said Detroit needs more pre-arraignment holding cells, many of which were closed by the consent decree because of their decrepit condition. Six years ago, police held 350 detainees in such lockups; today, 130.
“You can’t have accountability in law enforcement if ... warrants don’t get confirmed because there’s nowhere to take them,” he said. “The system is broken. People get tickets every day and there’s no accountability for that ticket.”
As chief, Evans said, he would push to negotiate a deal to lease county jail cells to Detroit for police lockups.
Credit for Barren
Evans credited Barren with raising the morale of the department and acknowledged his firing would cause some hard feelings among officers.
“The former chief is a perfect gentleman and an excellent police officer,” Evans said. “He will certainly have people who are loyal to him, but they’ll also be loyal to the city and loyal to the Police Department. We have to do some things a little differently but, certainly, we don’t want to hurt the morale of the department.”
Reforms and innovations
In the 1990s, Evans reformed the county’s troubled youth home, which the U.S. Department of Justice had threatened to sue for a series of abusive conditions, and significantly reduced recidivism among juvenile offenders. He helped start and administer the U.S. Marshall’s Fugitive Safe Surrender program here last year, which enabled thousands of people with arrest warrants for nonviolent offense to turn themselves in at a church in exchange for possible leniency. The program enabled authorities to safely clear up minor cases without making dangerous and confrontational arrests or clogging already crowded jails.
When the Wayne County Sheriff’s Department contracted with the City of Detroit for law enforcement in 2003 to 2007, murders went down by half, auto theft by 80% and response time to priority 911 calls averaged less than three minutes.
As sheriff, Evans also expanded the use of the Dose of Reality program that brought thousands of teens into the Wayne County Jail each year to talk to men who were on their way to prison, many of them for life. His Fresh Start program gave prostitutes with outstanding criminal warrants a chance to enter drug treatment and counseling to get off the streets.
Law enforcement must do more than arrest people, Evans said. “If we have something for kids to do after school, for example, crime goes down. Not only does crime go down, but also the opportunity for kids to grow up to be someone goes up. That’s what we’re supposed to be about. It’s not only good government -- it’s the right thing to do.”
Finding a successor
In other comments, Evans also expressed support for his undersheriff, Daniel Pfannes, to take over as Wayne County sheriff.
“He’s earned it,” Evans said. “He knows the office and he’s a collaborator like I am. He will work with the Detroit Police Department and the suburban departments.”
Copyright 2009 Detroit Free Press