James C. Harris’ father James (“Jimmy”) Harris, former Detroit cop and S.T.R.E.S.S. member, (circled) is featured in campaign hand-out card, found thrown on the ground in Oak Park supermarket parking lot.
DETROIT CITY COUNCIL CANDIDATE JAMES C. HARRIS BOASTS IN CAMPAIGN LIT THAT HE IS THE ‘DEVOTED SON’ OF JAMES HARRIS
Disgraced DPD Sgt. and S.T.R.E.S.S. cop James ‘Jimmie’ Harris was charged in 1972 murder, grave wounding of Wayne Co. Deputy Sheriffs, spent 20 yrs. in prison after 1992 conviction from FBI drug sting
In documentary ‘Detroit Under STRESS,’ Harris bragged about his stint on the DPD unit which killed 24 in 3 yrs, leading to massive protests and the election of Detroit’s first Black Mayor Coleman A. Young.
Harris framed Ricky Rimmer for 1975 murder, after Rimmer refused to sell drugs for him; he terrorized many more
By Diane Bukowski
Voice of Detroit Editorial
September 6, 2025
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DETROIT — It is hard to believe so many Detroiters now disregard the city’s history as a vanguard of the Black liberation movement in the 1960’s and 70’s.
That era saw the 1967 rebellion against Detroit police killings and brutality, the founding of the Republic of New Africa, and massive rallies against the DPD killer cop unit S.T.R.E.S.S., which led to the election of the city’s first Black Mayor, Coleman A. Young, in 1974.
But in recent years, Detroiters have elected Black judges like Christopher Blount, whose father Michael Blount was one of the few Black cops on S.T.R.E.S.S., and other judges who also blatantly ignore the rulings of higher courts on false convictions, as they add to the devastation wrought in the Black community by mass incarceration.
Blount’s father worked with James ”Jimmie” Harris on S.T.R.E.S.S., then surprisingly on Mayor Young’s security squad after Young disbanded the unit.
“Jimmie” Harris was one of the Detroit cops who killed a Wayne Co. Deputy Sheriff and gravely wounded a second, during the 1971 Rochester Street Massacre inside a deputy’s apartment. He spent the next years terrorizing and framing Black youth and running his own drug ring. He later spent 20 years in federal prison after his conviction for conspiracy to sell drugs on the streets of Detroit.
Now Harris’ son James C. Harris is among the four candidates vying for at-large seats on Detroit’s City Council. VOD has contacted him through his campaign website, requesting his stance on his father’s history, and disclosure of his campaign finance reports. His website is at: James Harris – Candidate for Detroit City Council At-Large – Vote James Harris
1971 ROCHESTER STREET MASSACRE of Wayne Co. Sheriffs involving among others: Sgt. JAMES HARRIS of S.T.R.E.S.S.
“Why did a STRESS unit invade a private apartment with guns blazing, killing and wounding other law enforcement officers? To the growing anti-STRESS movement, the Rochester Street Massacre was either the latest example of the unit’s murderous shoot-first mentality, or an even more sinister illustration of the massive corruption at the heart of the Detroit Police Department, perhaps even tied to an internal law enforcement battle for control of the profits from the city’s illegal narcotics markets.”
James Harris called S.T.R.E.S.S. a “worthy” effort in the 2018 documentary, “Detroit under S.T.R.E.S.S.,” boasting that white and Black killer cops in it got along well, including the killers of Malice Green in 1992, Larry Nevers and Walter Budzyn. The documentary ironically cites the drug trade as a leading cause of crime in Detroit.
William Messenger, who grew up in Rimmer’s east side neighborhood, recalled details of Harris’ history in a sworn affidavit.
William Messenger, MDOC photo.
“In 1975, Detective Harris, who was the head of Squad Seven homicide division, was routinely assigned to patrol our community. It was known to everyone that he was a corrupt dirty cop. He had a reputation for getting street guys to say they saw or heard about someone committing a murder or robbery—people who had nothing to do with the crime. . . I personally told Detective Harris when he stopped me on the streets, and again in the witness room at the Frank Murphy Hall, that Ricky had nothing to do with this crime. His response was, ‘I want Rimmer.’”
Ricky Rimmer, mother Lovie Mae Rimmer,
Rimmer himself told VOD in an interview, “[James] Harris was a dirty cop. He wanted me to sell drugs in the neighborhood for him and I refused . . . I knew that he would set me up or kill me. He did both when he put me in here for the rest of my life!”
Ricky Rimmer-Bey, now 70, used these words in a letter to his attorney, dated Feb. 12, 2020, to explain why he is claiming actual innocence, as he has throughout 50 years of incarceration, and seeking his freedom and exoneration.
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