Inspector Robert McPherson is the head of the city’s Black Hand Squad, which is charged with policing Detroit’s Italian mob and the predominantly Black neighborhoods. A decorated officer, he nevertheless fails to inform Inspector Norton Schuknecht of the Sweets’ need for police protection until a day before their move onto Garland Avenue. He is among the police who guard the Sweets’ on the nights of September 8 and 9, 1925, and he is personally responsible for seeing that the suspects in the shooting are transported safely through the crowd to the police station.