DETROIT (AP)—Warren Evans had an idea that his boss—Detroit Mayor Dave Bing—may not have been comfortable with him as police chief and that likely led to the decision to ask for his resignation from the job he held for just over a year.
Evans told Detroit’s Fox affiliate, WJBK-TV, July 23 that he didn’t seek an explanation when told by Deputy Mayor Saul Green of the forced resignation.
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| STEPS?DOWN —Warren Evans speaks at a news conference announcing his appointment as Detroit’s new police chief as Mayor Dave Bing looks on, July 9, 2009.
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“When your commander- in-chief says your services are no longer needed, you take your marching orders and go,” the 61-year-old Evans said. “That doesn’t mean I’m happy about it.
“I didn’t know it was coming that day, but…you can’t be in the world that I’m in as long as I’ve been in it and not sense that they were having some discomfort.”
Evans resigned July 21, just over a year after he was hired by Bing and hours before ABC affiliate, WXYZ-TV, aired a video promo of a proposed Detroit reality crime show called “The Chief.”
A production company contacted Evans about the show, which would star the chief. Evans appeared in the slick video holding an assault rifle outside a vacant train station and making arrests while patrolling the city.”
Bing has said Evans was “compromised in some of the decisions he made,” and that the video was a factor in his decision to fire him.
The mayor also was incensed to learn of a contract allowing a video crew from A&E’s reality show “The First 48” to shadow officers on homicide investigations. Bing banned reality TV cameras from following officers after a 7-year-old girl was killed by police during a raid in May. Evans had approved the contract.
A personal relationship Evans has with Detroit police Lt. Monique Patterson also factored into Bing’s decision.
The Detroit Free Press reported last Friday that internal documents showed Evans removed an officer from Bing’s security force after gossip circulated about the relationship with Patterson.
Evans told WJBK-TV that he wishes things had turned out differently with him and the city.
“I don’t begrudge the mayor,” Evans said. “He’s the chief elected official of the city of Detroit. He can hire, appoint and dis-appoint anybody he wants to. I don’t have an issue with that.”
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