5/6/2009 - On Friday, May 6th Captain James Craig of the LAPD was sworn-in as the eighteenth Chief of Police for the City of Portland.

Craig, a twenty-eight year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department, left his position of the Area Commanding Officer (CO) of the West Los Angeles Area for the top police post in Portland. While in Los Angeles, Craig held the rank of Police Captain III and served as Area CO for the Southwest Area of the city for nearly four years during which, he was responsible for policing a diverse community of approximately 190,000 residents and exercised command over 390 sworn and civilian personnel. Craig's community policing approach contributed to a four year trend in crime reduction for the area. In Los Angeles, Craig provided oversight for a year long joint LAPD/FBI operation targeting a local gang in Baldwin Village and served as incident commander managing significant events such as the Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Parade, the BET Awards, the Emmys and major University of South California Sporting events.