Just when you think that the Motor City was done with the drama that can come with people finding out your business because you couldn't keep it off your cellphone, along comes another doohickey of a hoochie-coo, involving Detroit's current and immediate past top cops, the woman between them and an apparent resurrection of Billy Paul's "Me and Mrs. Jones."
Now just a few weeks ago, Aol. Black Voices told you that former Detroit Police Chief Warren Evans (pictured above) resigned. Evans, though, is striking back by revealing text messages between Lt. Monique Patterson (pictured above left) and interim police chief Ralph Goodbee, who is married. The texts show that the two had a romantic relationship.
Patterson's attorney, David Robinson, says she ended her relationship with Goodbee when she started dating Evans last year.
One of the other reasons Detroit Mayor Dave Bing asked Evans for his resignation was because of what was deemed an inappropriate relationship with a subordinate and the alleged preferential treatment he gave her. Even still, Bing has made it clear that he has no intentions of firing Goodbee for his relationship with Patterson and is still considering hiring him permanently.
Which is what Evans is complaining about.
Evans proposed revealing the texts through his lawyer to Deputy Mayor Saul Green in order to right what he feels was a wrong done to him. The messages are reportedly of a romantic nature, but we don't know if they were as freaky-deaky as the ones between former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his Chief of Staff Christine Beatty, which resulted in his downfall and subsequent imprisonment.
"What struck us as puzzling is that Warren was terminated, in part, because he had a fully disclosed relationship with somebody. Protocols were in place. She was outside his command and he never did anything to advance her career. Yet, Chief Godbee doesn't disclose the relationship and appears to have made promises in his professional capacity to help her career," Evans lawyer Mark Zausmer told the Associated Press.
Although Evans really just wants a position in the police department, apparently a war of words has sprung up between Evans and Bing:
"Appointees, all of whom serve at the pleasure of the mayor, are retained or released based on their uncompromised ability to lead," Bing said. "Failed attempts of personal gain at the expense of the police department and city at-large are unfortunate, and should not be tolerated."
Now, hold on a second. As a reader, you certainly have a right to an opinion that says:
"Detroit has abysmal unemployment, school dropout and foreclosure rates. Violent crime is out of control, residents do not feel safe and abandoned houses are spreading through neighborhoods like pancreatic cancer. So what does a typical police love triangle have to do with me living in a better city."
And you'd be right. The answer is not a gat damned thing.
But even though this thing is the personal business of Patterson, Goodbee and Evans, the firing and replacement of the Chief of Police is something that does affect every Detroiter. If the department is fragmented, then it cannot police the city properly, and after the hellish summer Detroit has had, it cannot afford anymore cop conundrums.
So, no, the soap opera at 1300 Beaubien is not really that important in the grand scheme of things, but just like any other workplace, when people's personal lives start to spill over in to a job that affects so many people, it needs to be checked with the quickness. And when it comes to those who serve and protect, it needs to be checked yesterday.
Watch the love triangle here: