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William Hart (police chief)William L. Hart (January 17, 1924 – November 22, 2003)[1] was a Detroit Police Chief for almost 15 years,[2] a position for which he was hired by Coleman Young, the mayor of the Detroit, in 1976;[2] Hart was a political ally and adviser of Young's.[3] Hart served as a Detroit policeman for four decades,[4] and was Detroit's first black police chief and the city's longest serving police chief until that time.[1] He was honored by the AARP in 1988 and in 1992 sentenced to 10 years' prison and ordered to pay back $2.3 million he had stolen. Personal lifeHart was a World War II military veteran. Before moving to Detroit to find work, Hart lived in Pennsylvania until 1949, where he worked at a coal mine until it closed. Hart obtained a bachelor's degree in criminal justice and a master's in social education from Wayne State University. In 1973, he graduated from the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Virginia. In 1978, Hart was a guest lecturer at Michigan State University, in the College of Urban Development.[5] Hart also secured a PhD in educational sociology from Wayne State.[6] He married Laura around 1951, a nurse, who remained his wife until her death.[7] Laura Hart passed away in 1992 at 62 years of age, while her husband was imprisoned; she had been his main witness during his defense in court.[8] William Hart passed away at 79 years of age, in Philadelphia.[1] Police careerHart joined the Detroit police force in 1952; soon, working undercover on the 9th Precinct on Detroit's East Side in gambling and prostitution establishments, he became known as "the man of a thousand faces".[6] Hart rose through the ranks;[1] his specialties were the investigation of vice and of organized crime. His co-workers described him as "methodical" and "soft-spoken."[5] In 1970, Detroit Police Commissioner Patrick V. Murphy promoted Hart to lieutenant. Years later Murphy said: «he enjoyed such an outstanding reputation in the department. He was highly respected by the people above him and below him in rank. His performance evaluation couldn`t have been better.»[6] In the early 1970s, when the Internal Affairs Section was created (replacing the Citizen Complaint Bureau),[9] Hart was one of only two officers selected to start it up.[6] In November 1984, U.S. President Ronald Reagan appointed Hart to head a nine-member commission to recommend what could the State and Federal governments do with regard to spouse, elderly and child abuse.[10] In May 1988, the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) honored Hart with a special commendation for "outstanding work with and for Detroit's older citizens", to serve as model "for other communities throughout the country."[11] Indicted in February 1991, following a two-year investigation,[4] and together with a civilian Deputy Police Chief,[12] Hart was convicted in May 1992 by a jury of 12 people[7] of embezzling $2.3 million,[2] starting in 1986.[3] Prosecutors had accused Hart of stealing $2.6 million, but the judge determined some of the taken money had been legitimately spent.[13] Hart stole the money from the department's drug enforcement fund.[1] He used part of the embezzled funds to benefit the mayor, including armoring his limousine, purchasing machine guns for the mayor's security detail, and paying for a satellite television system for the mayor's home.[2] During court proceedings it was revealed that police crews were sent to protect the mayor's niece, who was accused in relation to the importation of drugs;[2] eleven policemen who reported to him were accused of guarding drug shipments.[12] Hart also used the embezzled funds to purchase what the press described as luxury cars and other gifts, including cash, trips and concert admissions for Hart's three girlfriends; to buy $1000-a-week worth of lottery tickets, and to pay for renovations to his residence and his Canadian cottage.[7][4][14] Roughly one-half of the grafted money was laundered through front companies created by the Deputy Chief, who was separately convicted and sent to prison;[4] one of these companies had allegedly paid $72,000 worth of rent on behalf of a Hart daughter in Beverly Hills.[15] Hart was acquitted of witness tampering and of a charge of conspiracy with the convicted Deputy Chief.[7] ResignationHart resigned from his post as Police Chief the day after his May 1992 conviction;[4] his salary was around $100,000.[7] He remained eligible to collect his police pension.[16] Hart was sentenced to the maximum penalty allowed by law, 10 year's prison, for graft, in August 1992; he was 68 years old at the time.[4] Hart was ordered to pay back $2.34 million.[13] Hart served only seven years in jail,[17] and was released in 1999.[18] Tax convictionsHart was convicted for submitting false tax returns in 1986 and 1987.[2] He was acquitted of tax evasion in 1985.[7] He was sentenced to three years for each of two counts of tax evasion, but these times were to run concurrently with his embezzlement conviction.[4] AssessmentFollowing Hart's 1992 conviction, Detroit mayor Coleman A. Young said: «Bill Hart was a good man and a good cop".»[7] References
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