How Detroit Police Chief James White's civil rights background informs his policing

Chief James White on civil liberties and rights and the balance police strike between the two

Despite its implementation and measured success with a lower crime rate, programs like Project Green Light and Detroit Police's use of facial recognition programs have continued to be met with skepticism from a wary community.

DETROIT (FOX 2) - Detroit police have long touted Project Green Light.

Its partnership program with Detroit businesses has led to a 23% reduction in violent crime at those sites, police say. "It has had a tremendous impact in specific crimes at those business, carjackings, street robbers, and early on a significant impact in shootings," Chief James White said.

"The benefit of a green light is tremendous because we've been able to catch some violent predators who are victimizing our community, maybe even down the street from a green light," he added. "So the hope is that if crime is a business, that people look at it (Green Light businesses) and say ‘I don’t want to commit a crime in that area.' One less victim for us is a win."

Project Green Light's measured success is still not enough to erase some skepticism about DPD's work in the community.

Topics about its surveillance of Detroit, including the department's controversial facial recognition program, have drawn scrutiny from civil rights activists wary of a police department infringing on the libertarians of citizens.

The American Civil Liberties Union has argued against the software's use, saying the tool is inaccurate enough it has led to false arrests.

White, who previously led the Michigan Department of Civil Rights prior to being selected as Detroit's new police chief following the retirement of James Craig, says striking the balance of civil rights and liberties with maintaining safe community standards is one of the hardest lines to strike.

"I’m always concerned with the balance of civil liberties and civil rights. The lion share (of my career at the Detroit Police Department) was spent in civil rights, literally, and the consent judgement," he said.

"As an African American male in the city, my rights are important to me," White added. "I’m not always going to be a police chief. We have people who victimize our community and I have a responsibility to keep this community safe. So the responsibility then is to ensure you have strong policy that doesn’t violate civil rights and civil liberties."

Craig, who retired from his post in June 2021, faced questions about the facial recognition program multiple times. He responded by giving media a tour of the department that uses the software. He previously said the software only operated as one of many tools the department uses during its investigations.

In explaining how the software works, White doubled down on the claim that it doesn't violate any civil liberties.

"I’m part of the committee that wrote the policy. I'm part of the committee that oversees the policy," he said. "I get a report every week on the facial recognition numbers and when it is used toe insure it is used in accordance with our policy. There are no cameras that are rolling and using facial recognition throughout the community."

Instead, according to White, facial recognition is deployed as a tool in a violent crime investigation after the fact. "The camera that is using facial recognition is the camera that you may have at your house. Your Ring doorbell - that photo is taken - it's called a probe photo - it's given to the investigator for the purpose of seeing if it can be run through facial recognition pursuant to our policy," he said.

And if any violation to that policy is reported, White said the likely penalty would be removal.

Detroit Police Department