Board of Police Commissioners

Tonight’s agenda: https://detroitmi.gov/sites/detroitmi.localhost/files/events/2022-12/Agenda%20December%208%2C%202022.pdf https://t.co/LgxIDw7dU8

This week’s mental health service call data shows the DPD has received 2,135 more 2022 YTD mental health calls for service compared to the YTD in 2021. https://t.co/osvq97qjvn

I’ll see yall at 6:30!

BOPC Chair Bryan Ferguson has called the meeting to order at 6:31 #DETdocumenters

Commissioners Linda Bernard and Willie Bell have an excused absence. Commissioner Willie Burton was not present.

Line item 14 on the Dec 1st minutes were incorrect. There was a vote that passed 7-2. The minutes said Commissioner Bell and Burton voted no, but it was actually Commissioners Bernard and Burton who voted no.

Chair Ferguson just said they will receive updates on the “community strategy plan.” I’m wondering if he is referring to the community safety strategy the department released earlier this year. https://detroitmi.gov/sites/detroitmi.localhost/files/2022-03/DPD-community-safety-strategy.pdf

A deputy chief (I don’t know her name) is reporting stats for Chief White.

She says drag racing enforcement has ended “for the season”

DPD’s weekly crime stats https://t.co/nOEp0WXdpi

DPD’s daily crime stats https://t.co/7KIBI7J2sS

Facial recognition report: https://t.co/DxP2kalqNi

Shotspotter report: https://t.co/AFAZ2hzjou

Tomorrow on Dec 9th, they’re holding a “music with the cop” event where officers will take students from Burns Elementary to the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

She says the objective with this initiative is to “expose inner city youth to classical music while being able to mentor fellowship and leave a positive impression of police officers” on the youth of the city of Detroit.

I missed which commissioner asked (he was male) but he asked the deputy chief if there is a racism issue in the department due to recent issues with racism against officers. Here’s a news article of the incident: https://www.fox2detroit.com/news/white-detroit-cop-found-guilty-in-racial-profiling-assault-of-black-police-officer?utm_source=Outlier%20Media&utm_campaign=22efc53935-Detour%20%23411,%2012%2F08%2F22%20Where%20to%20volunteer%20in%20D&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-22efc53935-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D&mc_cid=22efc53935&mc_eid=847ec61bb7

She claimed the DPD does not have a racial issue because they have diversity departments and says they investigate claims of racism in the department.

On to public comment!

1. Gave a report from the NACOLE (National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement) conference. She gave a lot of information but gave multiple suggestions on how the board can increase accountability on the board and in the department.

1. Resident who is concerned about the number of people running red lights. He wants everyone to be concerned with what’s going on and calls on the police to do something about it.

1. Woman who says she is being targeted by police.

1. Says the BOPC and OCI is totally corrupt and says they are in “total violation” of the Detroit city charger. He says he’s seen more corruption now than in the 40 years he’s been in the city. +

He mentions Kaniesha Coleman and said she did not kill herself, as police claim. https://wdet.org/2021/12/23/a-grieving-mother-seeks-answers-after-detroit-police-investigation-of-daughters-shooting-death/

1. Minister Eric Blount says the board should not be reading crime stats during BOPC meetings because that is not their job.

He said Commissioner Moore asked the question about there being a racial issue. Blount said “everyone knows” there is a racial issue.

1. Supports the DPD and says the BOPC is doing a good job.

1. Former Commissioner Davis says the board needs their own independent analysis and needs to look at the vast amount of lawsuits against the DPD, not counting lawsuits against the Board of Police Commissioners.

He’s making a similar call for more traffic enforcement like he did at the Dexter Streetscape meeting. https://twitter.com/mostlikelyalex/status/1597393991636770816

Onto the HR presentation

Slides! https://t.co/9cifubkoL8

More slides! https://t.co/uDBjZ1G5sX

She mentions they’re having career fairs and going to high schools and colleges for recruitment. https://t.co/rPPFyutg3i

Commissioner Hernandez praised the presenter.

It looks like the HR report had some different data than the slides. The presenter says the number of of retired police officers should be 0, not 1.

Commissioner Banks is asking why its “so hard” for people to pass physical agility tests. The presenter is former military but says it would be hard for the average individual who does not work out.

Onto the 3rd precinct report. The presenter’s name is Commander Melissa Gardner.

She’s going to report on crime state and strategies they’ve put in place to address these “crime patterns”

She says they saw “several months” where they had no fatal or non fatal shootings in the precinct, but they are seeing them again.

She says foot patrol, targeting hotspot areas, having a “crime analyst” break down times and days where crime is committed, and using plainclothes units and bait cars are all strategies she says they are using to try and reduce crime.

She’s also talking about increases MDOT home checks and says they are obtaining drugs in peoples homes they check.

She says their “crime analyst” is a huge asset to their precinct and says they go through social media sites to see if people are posting anything they can use in investigations.

She also mentions their crisis intervention team, and aays they’ve had concerns about how they handled calls for service with people with mental illness (likely referring to the recent 2 murders of ppl w/ mental illness)

She says several officers are trained in “crisis intervention”

Crisis intervention officers were present during the murder of Porter Burkes.

They are having a conflict resolution zoom event. She says they want young people to understand they will go to prison if they commit violence against others.

She says they had “restorative justice”. She says this was a meeting for people to tell the police their grievances. She also says they have “shoot don’t shoot” activities. She says the goal of this is to show residents “some of the pressures the officers face.”

Chair Ferguson asked how many crisis intervention officers (CIT) and she said they had 12.

The ASL interpreter had her camera off for a short period of time. She’s back on now.

Commissioner Banks asked if the strategies she listed are going to be used during the holiday season. She says yes and also mentions different strategies they’ll use with businesses.

He asks what strategies they have to limit “the crooks” this season. She says that’s the challenge.

Commissioner Pressley is asking if there are any times when you don’t have enough body cameras when officers are deployed. She says the department had obtained more body worn cameras and each officer will have their own moving forward.

He says only 17% department are Black women and asks about her experience leading as a Black woman in the department. She says the department has allowed her to get a degree, training, go to the FBI academy, and says this allowed her great networking opportunities.

Commander Gardner says she wants educate kids that there are other ways to manage conflict with one another.

Chair Ferguson held up a copy of the Community Safety Strategy and called it the “Chief’s Bible”.

Precinct presentation is over!

There are some extra items on this agenda that are not on the other agenda that was posted on the website. https://t.co/dNQyDalSON

The American Bar Association and DPD have proposed a semester long project with Wayne State law school students who will be assigned to work with BOPC staff and the Policy Committee to members to conduct research and analysis into topics of importance to the BOPC.

The BOPC approved the partnership.

Not on the agenda, but Commissioner Hernandez is talking about candidates for the Chief Investigator and Board Secretary. He says these interviews are available to the public by watching through the meeting zoom link. These will start at 10:30 tomorrow and go until 1.

Vice Chair Annie Holt says she’s wondering if the board needs to create policy or write a resolution to ensure each precinct has access to body cameras.

The deputy chief says they are currently in a process of obtaining new body worn cameras so all officers will have one.

Commissioners Banks asks what happens if an officer and citizen is in an altercation but the officer’s body camera isn’t on, and asks what disciplinary action is taken. She says they start an investigation to conclude whether or not the act was intentional.

Chief Ferguson says he wants to know when the department is getting new body cameras. The department says it was pretty expensive. He says he’s gonna follow up on this.

Meeting is adjourned at 8:07!

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