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City
Hall
Sources:
Barren
Out As
Detroit
Police
Chief,
Warren
Evans
Takes
Over On
Monday
By HB
Meeks/Tell
Us
Detroit
DETROIT
--
Detroit
Police
Chief
James
Barren
was
relieved
of duty
Friday
afternoon.
City
government
sources
who wish
to
remain
anonymous told
Tell Us
Detroit
that
Mayor
Dave
Bing
will
replace
him on
Monday
with
current
Wayne
County
Sherriff
Warren
Evens.
The
Detroit
Police
Department
had no
comment
on the
situation.
However,
Mayor
Bing's
Communications
Director,
Karen
Dumas,
while
not
confirming
the
reports,
stated,
"He is
still
the
police
chief."
The move
may have
been a
result
of the
department's
slow and
inadequate
response
to the
shooting
of seven
teens on
Detroit's
westside
Tuesday
morning,
along
with the
department
underreporting
the
number
of
homicides
in the
city
during
2008.
Speculation
ran high
among
some
insiders
about
Barren's
demise
when
Mayor
Bing did
not
appear
with him
at a
Wednesday
press
conference
surrounding
the
recent
teen
shootings
at a bus
stop
near
Cody
High
School.
In
addition,
the
mayor
did not
invite
Barren
to a
Thursday
morning
press
conference
at Sinai
Grace
Hospital,
electing
to bring
Public
Safety
Director
Saul
Green to
speak
with the
media.
Barren's
firing
came
soon
after
18-year-old
Jamel
Cameron
Turner
was
arrested
on
suspicion
of
shooting
the
teens at
the bus
stop.
Then was
released
because
Wayne
County
Prosecutor
Kym
Worthy
determined
there
was not
enough
evidence
to serve
a
warrant.
Turner
was
identified
as a
suspect
after
investigators
spoke
with
teen
victims
from
Tuesday's
bus stop
shooting
and
another
person
with
information
regarding
the
incident.
Interim
Mayor
Ken
Cockrel
Jr.
promoted
Barren
from
deputy
chief to
head of
the
police
force in
the
nation's
11th-largest
city in
September.
He
succeeded
Ella
Bully-Cummings,
who
announced
her
retirement
after
the man
who
appointed
her,
former
Mayor
Kwame
Kilpatrick,
pleaded
guilty
to two
felony
obstruction
charges
in a
sex-and-misconduct
scandal.
The
highly
decorated
31 year
police
veteran
has a
number
of
graduate
degrees
including
a
doctoral
degree
in
Psychology and has
most
recently
worked
for
General
Motors
and the
Veterans
Administration
prior to
returning
to the
Detroit
Police
Department
as chief
after he
retired
from the
department
in 2004.
Associated
Press
Writers
Corey
Williams
and Jim
Irwin
contributed
to this
report.
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