William Bartle

William Bartle is a retired Detroit police officer. He was born and raised in Detroit. During the events of July 1967, Officer Bartle was assigned to the old 2nd Precinct in the vicinity of 12th and 14th street where he directly involved in efforts to control the conflagration. Prior to that time, he served with the police department’s elite “Big Four” unit and Tactical Mobile units (TMU). During his career he rose to the rank of Sergeant and at the time of our interview was working for the Internal Affairs Bureau. He currently resides in the Southfield neighborhood on Detroit’s West Side, which is colloquially known as “Copper Canyon” for the high proportion of police officers and firemen who live there.