My name is Lashinda Stair. I am the First Assistant Chief of Police. I'm proud to say that I grew up in the City of Detroit. When I think about my childhood, one thing that always comes to mind is that I never realized that I was poor, because everybody around me was poor. I had a very, very happy childhood, but we were poor. And the only time it even came to be where I thought of it was when, like the water was being cut off and the man at the water department was digging up our front lawn and all my friends in the neighborhood saw it right. That's when I realized like, oh, we got an issue. But with that then, that also gave me the drive to do better. 

When you talk about the police department, I've been on the department for almost 23 years now and they are the members of a police department... both sworn and civilian are my second family. And it’s always reinforced when things are happening in your life, joyous occasions and really sad occasions. But the one that comes to mind is when my mom passed away. If the entire police department could have fit in the church, they would have been there. 

My hope for the City of Detroit is to become a very safe place, where people feel comfortable working in their gardens and where we can come together as a community so that we can trust each other and uphold each other. And Detroiters have shown over and over again that we can do amazing things. We have a lot more work to do, but I think together we'll get through it.