DETROIT – Cincinnati Police Chief James Craig will be the next chief of police in Detroit.
Sources have confirmed with Local 4 that Craig, who had been going through the interview process with other candidates, will return to the city where his law enforcement career began.
He was offered the position as top cop with the Detroit Police Department and has accepted it.
Craig has been considered the top candidate for the past several weeks. The native of Detroit started out as a police officer in his hometown in 1977.
When approached by the media Monday night, Craig didn't say much.
"I will sat that an announcement is imminent, so we'll just wait until Detroit officially contacts me," he told reporters.
He is the 13th police chief of Cincinnati, a position he took in 2011. Before that, Craig was chief of police in Portland, Maine. He also spent time with the Los Angeles Police Department.
The 56-year-old had previously interviewed for the Detroit Police Chief position which eventually went to now-former Chief Ralph Godbee.
Now he is Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr's first pick and a familiar community activist already is threatening to sue over the chief of police hiring.
"If I were the individual coming from Cincinnati I would not resign from my job just yet because certainly there are some key legal questions that may block his appointment here in the city of Detroit," said activist Robert Davis.
Davis claims Craig's appointment would violate the state of Michigan's Open Meetings Act.
Read: Source: Top candidate for DPD helm is Cincinnati chief
Chief James Craig was sporting a Detroit Tigers hat while participating in a charity softball game in Cincinnati.