Tagged: Ralph Godbee

The Detroit Police Chief admits the department left its former crime lab in deplorable condition. But Ralph Godbee also insists that no evidence that could compromise ongoing criminal cases was left behind there.

The Detroit Police Department shuttered its crime lab in 2008, after investigations revealed numerous problems with testing and handling evidence.

Detroit Police held the first of what they say will be quarterly community meetings Tuesday night.

Police Chief Ralph Godbee says the meetings are a way to share up-to-date crime data with Detroit residents.

Godbee says it’s also a way for the police and citizens to exchange information, and start tackling the city’s crime problem honestly.

Detroit Mayor Dave Bing has rolled out a new incentives program for Detroit police officers.

“Project 14” aims to pull some officers living in the suburbs into city neighborhoods. The phrase refers to a Detroit police code that means things are “back to normal.”

Bing hopes to restore something like normality to Detroit neighborhoods by making more Detroit cops city residents. Fewer than half are right now.

The project’s pilot phase will give officers chance to get a tax-foreclosed home for up to a thousand dollars. They’ll also be eligible for federal funds to fix them up.

Detroit Police Chief Ralph Godbee calls moving to the city a “highly personal decision” for officers. But he thinks many will consider it.

“I’ve fielded a number of calls to my office wondering what the incentives were. So now that they’ve been laid out I think we’re going to see a lot of officers take advantage of it.”

Project 14 will initially offer 200 homes in two relatively stable Detroit neighborhoods.

Bing says the program also complements his Detroit Works Project, which aims to strengthen the city’s more viable communities.

Detroit Police have identified 38-year-old Lamar Moore as the man who wounded four officers with a shotgun at a northwest Detroit precinct Sunday.

Officers returned fire, killing Moore. The four wounded officers survived and are doing well.

Detroit Police Chief Ralph Godbee says police know one of Moore’s relatives is set to be sentenced for a double homicide, and was also a suspect in another crime.

But Godbee says it’s still too early to speculate about a motive.

“To get into this individual’s mind…I wouldn’t venture to do that. Suffice it to say we still have a lot of investigative work to do.”

Godbee says the department will immediately put metal detectors and other “interim security measures” in precincts.

He says the department will also mount a comprehensive investigation into new security protocols in the wake of the shooting.

New FBI crime figures show Detroit’s violent crime rate dropped significantly in the first half of this year.

FBI statistics show violent crimes in Detroit fell by about 8-percent from the first half of 2009.

The biggest reduction was in homicides (28%), which fell from 202 to 146. Robberies were also down about 9%.

The city did see jumps in rapes and arsons.

Detroit Police Chief Ralph Godbee attributes the crime drop to a "data-based approach” to police deployment, and building partnerships with the community.