BY BEN SCHMITT
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
Detroit Police Cmdr. Craig Schwartz, once one of the department’s best-known officials, is suing the city and Chief Ella Bully-Cummings, alleging race discrimination after he was demoted from deputy chief to lieutenant.
Schwartz, 44, a 12-year department veteran who is white, alleged in his lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Detroit that Bully-Cummings demoted him in March “solely on the basis of race.”
Schwartz has since been promoted to commander status but wants his previous, higher-ranking title of deputy chief back, said his lawyer, Joel Sklar.
“This guy has an unblemished record,” Sklar said. “He is exactly the type of police officer you want in the executive ranks in this city.”
Police spokesman James Tate declined to comment specifically on the lawsuit. But he said: “Promotions are based on job performance, intuitiveness and commitment to community.”
There had been rumors that Schwartz’s demotion was fallout from the June 2004 fireworks shootings in downtown Detroit, in which nine people were shot, one of whom subsequently died. Schwartz was commander of the major crimes division that oversaw the investigation.
Prosecutors wound up dismissing charges against the shooting suspect, Daron Caldwell, and no one else has been charged.
However, Sklar pointed out that Schwartz was at an FBI training academy in Virginia when the shootings occurred.
“It’s upsetting that the city would try to scapegoat him for the fireworks,” Sklar said. “He wasn’t there.”
In June 2002, Schwartz scored highest in the department on a multiple-choice test devised by then-Chief Jerry Oliver and based on two books, “Character and Cops: Ethics in Policing” by Edwin Delattre and “The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership” by John Maxwell.
Soon afterward, he headed up the homicide unit and then became commander of the major crimes division for about a year. In October 2004, he became a deputy chief, overseeing the criminal investigations bureau. Between 2002 and early 2005, Schwartz addressed local news media frequently on breaking police stories and high-profile crimes.
Two years ago, Gerald Cliff, a 30-year veteran who is also white, filed a similar lawsuit claiming black officers were promoted ahead of whites. Cliff is now police chief in Saginaw.
The 15 highest-ranking officers in the department, including the chief, assistant chiefs and deputy chiefs, are all black, except for one Arab-American deputy chief.
U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds refused to dismiss Cliff’s lawsuit, quoting a sworn deposition by former Deputy Police Chief Pamela Evans. Evans said Bully-Cummings, as an assistant chief, refused a promotion because “there were too many white people in the bureau.”
Cliff settled his case in March of this year for an undisclosed amount.
The day after Cliff’s settlement, Schwartz was demoted, Sklar said
Sklar claimed the demotion proved that Schwartz was only promoted in the first place to put a white face in the deputy chief ranks.
Tate said other officers were demoted, some black, on the same day as Schwartz.
Schwartz’s lawsuit seeks a monetary amount more than $75,000 and his former deputy chief position.
“He has no plans to leave the department,” Sklar said. “He absolutely deserves to be a deputy chief.”
Detroit Free Press (http://www.freep.com/)