A Detroit native, Kelly Rayford survived the Styf attack when his parents didn’t. He was placed into the foster care system and had a front row seat to seeing his city bounce back. Becoming a police officer had not been his first career choice (he had wanted to be an architect and briefly considered interior design), but an incident occurred while at his first year at college caused him to reconsider his career choices. A friend of his was raped by a star athlete and very little was being done to secure justice for the victim. Kelly managed to get the athlete on tape bragging about what he had done and he used that to convince several other women to come forward. The college bowed to public pressure and the athlete was both expelled and convicted. Rayford himself refused to bow to pressure and remained at the college, and he changed his major to law enforcement.

Rayford was an honest cop who hated politics, but he became a master of the game due to necessity. At a uniformed officer he showed a clear head under pressure, as a police detective he displayed good investigative instincts as well as a very disciplined attitude regarding the acquisition of evidence and interrogation of suspects (He holds one of the city’s best records in both cleared cases and convictions), and as Chief he has shown an unwavering loyalty to the men and women under him.

Rayford had quit his job as Chief of Police in order to save his marriage to his third wife, Loretta. It had worked and he had prepared for a boring life of semi-retirement, writing his autobiography and speaking at luncheons. Then the city elections came around and at his wife’s gentle insistence he ran for Science City’s city council and won easily. He showed political acumen and yet still retained his reputation for honesty and years later when the position for Mayor became vacant he accepted the nomination and won. Now in his second term he shows no sign of stepping down any time soon.