Reflections Magazine Issue #74 - Spring 2011 | Page 18

Feature Article

Left: Detroit Police Chief Ralph Godbee Jr. (far right) has made a
concerted effort to involve the community in helping fight crime.
Pictured with him are two members of The Peace Project, an innercity organization that promotes peacemaking through a variety
of efforts, including art, music, dance and poetry. At far left is the
organization’s founder, Virgil “Al” Taylor.

Some people feel it’s ‘soft policing.’ I think it’s
anything but that.”

continued from page 17 . . .

He is a fan of leadership books from authors
such as Jim Collins and Jack Welsh, and has tried
to impart a philosophy of mutual respect within
the department.
“You put accountability measures in place, you
set the expectations and you respect people as
adults and leaders in their own right,” Godbee
said. “And you try to develop them to be leaders
also. I’m of the opinion that if everything falls
apart when you walk out the door, you really
didn’t do a good job of being a leader. … The real
art is tapping into that and motivating people to
do what they are supposed to do, because it’s the
right thing to do.”
He said Mayor Bing has taken that approach
with him. “He’s been a tremendous boss from the
standpoint that it is atypical for a big-city politician like a mayor to really step back and allow a
major city police chief to run their police department,” Godbee said. “Mayor Bing has allowed
me to do that. It’s been a delight to work for him,
because there are no political strings attached.”

A Multi-Faceted Approach
Godbee said the best crime fighting can be preventing a crime before it happens.
“It really takes a look at root causes of major
crime issues and starts to tackle root causes,”
he said of the strategy called problem-oriented
policing. “If every application is an enforcement solution, if you think about it, that means
the crime has already happened. But from a
problem-oriented policing philosophy, you start
to pick apart some root causes.”

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Reflections Spring ’11

For example, Godbee said an abandoned house
that is the site of repeated drug dealing could
be torn down, thus changing the environment.
Godbee also uses a data-driven approach to
enforcement, looking at crime patterns and
allocating resources accordingly. And he also
is promoting a community policing approach,
developing better relationships between the
department and its citizens.
“We’ve talked about community policing as
a department for a lot of years, but it really, in
my experience, has devolved down to a few officers who have had a responsibility for fielding
complaints from the community,” he said. “To
me, that’s not community policing. Community
policing is really a philosophy where the community really feels a part and partners with the
police department.”
Godbee said in the last quarter, “part one” (violent) crime has decreased about 15 percent from
the same period a year ago.
“We have had some great successes early in my
tenure as chief with community involvement
that has led to some significant case closures,”
he said. “The feedback we have been getting consistently is that it is better now than it has been
in a long time. I’m very proud of that.”
Another philosophy his department utilizes is
one called “procedural justice.” “It’s really a concept that if the community feels there’s been
fairness and equity in how we administer law enforcement services, they may or may not be as
concerned about some success metrics we as law
enforcement look at,” he said. “They are much
more interested in how the officers treat them
on a traffic stop. What level of service we give.

He views law enforcement as a four-legged stool:
prevention, intervention, enforcement and then
reentry. Although the first three often receive
most of the attention, Godbee is taking a special
interest in reentry because of the disproportionate incarceration rate of African American men
in Detroit.
“To just see that level of destruction in the community, it really weighs on your psyche,” he said.
“They are not going to be incarcerated forever.
They are coming back, and at some point they
have to come out. If we don’t figure out a reentry
strategy and work with the reentry community
to help those individuals return to become successful, them I’m hurting my own cause.”

Chief concerns
Godbee recently returned from a meeting with
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, who wanted
the chief ’s input on officer safety. He said that
experience helped him realize the position he
holds. “It really brought it home to me what level
of responsibility comes with being a major city
chief,” he said. “It’s changed my profile. And I’ve
changed my life somewhat.”
However, he still preaches Sundays at his father’s
Inner Court Christian Center on Detroit’s west
side. And he leans on his wife and daughter for
support. “It allows me not to let the highs get too
high and the lows not get too low,” he said of his
faith and family.
An avid hometown sports fan in his spare time,
Godbee said he is embracing the chance to be
Detroit’s “top cop.” And he credits Siena Heights
for preparing him for his new role.
“My dad has a saying, ‘God anoints and God appoints, but it’s up to you to be prepared,’ ” he said.
“As opportunities started to present themselves
for leadership in the department, it was very nice
to