Incompetence of the Detroit Police Department
August 11, 2013
Dear Editor:
The continued incompetence of the Detroit Police Department to perform the basic measures of crime investigation alarms and infuriates me. In the southwest Detroit case, a fifteen year old girl of reduced mental capacity alleged she was raped by a 43 year old man. The victim identified the suspect, and the apartment where the alleged attack took place. According to the reports, the suspect is well-known in the community. You don't have to be a Sherlock Holmes to solve this crime. Rather, you just have to do the basics: get search warrants expeditiously, collect the evidence, and have the evidence appropriately analyzed. In this case, it took the Detroit Police Department almost three weeks to get the "rape kit" to the Michigan State Police laboratory for analysis. To make matters worse, it took sixteen days for the DPD to search the suspect's apartment and confiscate evidence, such as bed sheets.
I certainly do not support the so-called "street justice" that reportedly was inflicted on the suspect. But I do understand the frustration of the community at the pace and thoroughness of the DPD investigation.
I have absolute confidence in the ability of Chief Craig to right the foundering DPD ship. I know that he brings a needed sense of urgency to his position. I hope this sense of urgency results in action by DPD investigators and officers.
Thomas E. Page
Los Angeles Police Department, retired
