Mayor Mike Duggan on Friday appointed Deputy Mayor Todd Bettison as the city’s interim police chief. 

Bettison, a former longtime Detroit Police officer and deputy chief, will step in to replace James White after he accepted an offer last week to become the new CEO of the Detroit Wayne Integrated Health Network (DWIHN). White has led DPD since 2021. 

Bettison, a 27-year veteran of DPD, has been Detroit’s deputy mayor since 2022. At DPD, Bettison was second-in-command under White, overseeing administrative functions and community relations. He also was in charge of the Neighborhood Police Officer program.

Duggan said Bettison is among a generation of highly trusted DPD leaders and will represent a great transition to “one of the sons of Detroit.” 

“When things went bad, it was Todd Bettison that went to the community and said ‘we messed up, here’s what’s happening,’” Duggan said during a news conference at Detroit Public Safety Headquarters. “When things went well, he explained what was going on.” 

Duggan noted that Bettison was with DPD as it piloted dash and body cameras and took the lead on oversight of the city’s Community Violence Intervention program, the results of which are now attracting national attention.

Under the City Charter, the Detroit Board of Police Commissioners will launch a national search for a permanent replacement and recommend three candidates. Duggan will then make the selection which will go to the City council for confirmation.

Bettison, in an emotional speech, thanked Duggan, community allies, his family and department officers for their support and faith in him and said if given the opportunity, “I’m definitely here to compete” for the permanent role. 

“I truly believe that I am the best individual for the role of permanent chief,” he said. 

Bettison became a Detroit patrol officer in 1994 and, within five years, was promoted to a sergeant, and became a lieutenant a year after that. He later was an inspector, captain, commander and ultimately, deputy chief in 2017.

Bettison and White came up in the ranks together and have long been partners and that relationship will continue during the transition, White said.

White credited Duggan for giving him the resources needed to strengthen the department. There’s been an historic pay adjustment for officers, enabling the city to recruit and bring officers home from the suburbs. Under his tenure, White said the department has hired more than 800 officers. 

White, a licensed mental health professional, spent 28 years in law enforcement and, while serving as an assistant chief at DPD, he helped bring the department out of federal oversight that had been in place for 11 years. 

He briefly left DPD in 2020 to lead the Michigan Department of Civil Rights prior to being appointed interim chief by Duggan in summer 2021 following the departure of former Police Chief James Craig. 

As Detroit’s chief, White expanded the police department’s strategy to address a rise in mental health emergencies, creating a new unit that dispatches behavioral health specialists from DWIHN alongside officers trained in crisis intervention techniques. 

Darryl Woods, chairman of the Board of Police Commissioners, said White “has sacrificed his time and resources to be able to respond to the ills of the city of Detroit and has done his job faithfully, bringing violent crime down with his team.”

Duggan noted that the city recorded its fewest homicides last year since 1966. 

Woods called Bettison a “capable leader to stand in the gap” while the BOPC embarks on the selection process.

Woods and others spoke of Bettison’s outreach, support and kindness. Woods said he met Bettison through an outreach program while Woods was in prison and the two worked together to help young people headed down the wrong path.

“The interim chief (Bettison) we can say congratulations and welcome back. We’ll see if there’s anybody better. We’re going to see,” Woods said, prompting laughter.

Woods said the BOPC already has got the ball rolling, noting a special meeting will be held to identify a search firm. Duggan hopes to have a chief selected and confirmed in the next 60 to 90 days.

“It’s going to be a fair, open and transparent process where the citizens of the city of Detroit will be able to see everything that we do,” Woods said. “We will do it in a public forum and we will do it in a righteous forum.”

Duggan didn’t immediately announce who would take Bettison’s place, but the deputy mayor said the public “can rest assured that you’re in good hands with whom he’s going to select.”