Detroit police chief says the city hasn't experienced violent riots for one reason — cops 'don't retreat here'

Detroit Police Chief James Craig says that the Michigan city hasn't experienced dangerous riots like other cities because Detroit police don't retreat.

Conditions in cities across the United States have deteriorated over the last several weeks, and what may have started off as peaceful protesting and demonstrations in some cases have turned into violent lawlessness and rioting.

What are the details?

In a Tuesday interview with Fox News' Tucker Carlson, Craig — a former officer with the Los Angeles Police Department — said that he "saw what it was like after Rodney King in Los Angeles."

"We don't retreat here in Detroit," he said. "We're just not gonna do it. ... You saw the images ... of streets where there was lawlessness, looting, burning. No sign of police officers. We weren't giving up ground to the radicals. We just didn't do it."

Craig added that even the citizens of Detroit want no part of the violent, nationwide protest spurred on by the death of George Floyd, who died in Minneapolis police custody in late May.

"I'm not to talking about these peaceful protests ... [I mean] these misguided radicals that have tried to incite violence in our city. They said, 'We're not going to put up with it,'" he continued. "And so we got a couple of things: We got a great police department, great leadership, but we have a community that stands with us and said, 'Enough is enough.'"

'We have a city that has stood together'

Craig later insisted that unity is at the core of the city's success in banding together to fight lawlessness and violence.

"[W]hen you talk about what's different here, we have a city that has stood together and, oh, by the way, I know there's a lot of conversation about the mayors in some of these big cities," he added. "Our mayor stands with this police chief, stands with this police department, [and] we are not going to tolerate this uptick in violence."

"That's key," he concluded.