Godbee's alleged mistress gets gun back, returning to work

DETROIT -- The alleged mistress of Detroit Police Chief Ralph Godbee got her department issued gun back after a psychological evaluation.  So she is getting back to work, but we still haven't heard much from Godbee or Mayor Dave Bing.

"Did you use police sources to track this woman down?" I asked Godbee Wednesday night at Metro Airport.

"I can't comment on that at this time," he replied.

Okay, here's what we do know.  The chief of police's own elite Headquarters Surveillance Unit was dispatched on Saturday night with the knowledge of Chief Godbee.  This to track down his alleged lover and subordinate Officer Angelica Robinson.

"Are you ashamed of yourself?" I asked Godbee.

"I have no comment at this time, Charlie," he answered.

Listen to that.  How pathetic.  The city's in turmoil and not a peep out of Mayor Dave Bing for at least a week.  His spokesman wouldn't even confirm that he was alive.  Look, in a time of crisis, a leader steps up.  He doesn't shrivel up.

So ask police officials themselves what do we have in Detroit?  Leadership that's inept, impotent and indecisive.

"In 47 years, Charlie, I've never seen this type of instability within city leadership, and so, certainly, we want to make sure at the end of the day that the Board of Police Commissioners lives up to its responsibilities as is laid out in Detroit City Charter to make sure that the men and women of our department, the leadership of our department, know that there is credible leadership here," said Pastor Jerome Warfield from the Detroit Police Commission.

The Detroit police are demoralized, crime is spiraling out of control and now a bevy of female officers stepping forward to say Chief Godbee has turned police headquarters into Hugh Hefner's romper room.

Now ironically, Officer Robinson has been cleared and is fit for duty, has been given her gun back and will return to work on Friday.  Chief Godbee remains suspended with pay.

"Just what we heard on the surface, it's very unfortunate, especially during this day and time when the crime is not going down in the city, where we are literally using every resource at our disposal to make sure that we keep our citizens safe.  This is just an unfortunate distraction," Warfield said.

So here is the real story.  The chief of police used scarce resources to track down his girlfriend while at the same time seven people were shot on the streets of Detroit, one fatally.

"It's pretty strange.  The police should've been on their job, here on the job," said Reggie Thomas, whose neighbor was murdered.

So while suspended Chief Godbee mauls his options, replacement chief Chester Logan held an emergency meeting with command staff Wednesday.  Did he give them a rah-rah serve and protect speech?  Hardly.  Instead, he quoted Civil War general William Tecumseh Sherman, who when asked to run for president said, "If elected, I shall not serve."  Detroit, as far as this reporter can tell, nobody's in charge.