Board of Police Commissioners
Detroit Board of Police Commissioners
Criminal Justice
Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024
3:00 p.m. — 5:00 p.m. EDT
Remote
Join meeting on Zoom:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81981390642
Check the source website for additional information
Reporting
Edited and summarized by the Detroit - MI Documenters Team
Note-taking by
Betsy Spratt
Commissioners welcomed new Board Secretary Lydia Garnier, and a new attorney, Dante Goss. Goss was provided by the city’s law department and will work with the board on an interim basis, replacing the last temporary attorney provided by the city, a potential conflict of interest.
Live reporting by
Alex Klaus
Commissioners welcomed new Board Secretary Lydia Garnier, and a new attorney, Dante Goss. Goss was provided by the city’s law department and will work with the board on an interim basis, replacing the last temporary attorney provided by the city, a potential conflict of interest.
Alex Klaus 🌈⭐️
@mostlikelyalex
Good afternoon! Today at 3 pm I’ll live-tweet the Board of Police Commissioners meeting for #DETdocumenters. @DetDocumenters @BridgeDet313 @chalkbeatDET @freep @metrotimes @Michigan_public @media_outlier @PlanetDetroit @wdet @wxyzdetroit
10:47 AM Aug 29, 2024 CDT
BOPC meeting site: Documenters coverage: detroitmi.gov/events/board-p… detroit.documenters.org/assignments/bo…
detroitmi.gov/events/board-p…
detroit.documenters.org/assignments/bo…
The Human Resources Bureau will present to the board today. There is also a recommendation to promote Detective Johnell White to Sergeant. detroitmi.gov/sites/detroitm…
detroitmi.gov/sites/detroitm…
Last week’s BOPC coverage from @MotorCityMegs8 https://x.com/MotorCityMegs8/status/1826687347108512058
In the Board Secretary’s report, there is a DPD response to “BOPC Request for Body Worn Camera dated 8-22-2024. ⬇️
While it doesn’t state what footage it’s looking for, the city posted a letter from Darryl Woods asking Chief James White to release the body camera footage for the shooting of Sherman Lee Butler on August 22nd. The letter is dated August 19. detroitmi.gov/news/investiga…
detroitmi.gov/news/investiga…
A bailiff shot and killed Butler during an eviction on July 12th. detroitnews.com/story/news/loc…
detroitnews.com/story/news/loc…
During last week’s meeting, the board discussed Butler’s death and approved a motion for the BOPC’s policy committee to consider reducing DPD’s time to release body camera footage from 45 days to 21 days. outliermedia.org/towing-commiss…
outliermedia.org/towing-commiss…
A frequent public commenter also mentioned Butler in his public comment last week. https://x.com/MotorCityMegs8/status/1826702732981633045
There is another request in the Board Secretary’s report to give administrative leave without pay but with medical benefits to officer Travion Butler. ⬇️
I can’t find what he did but it looks like he is involved in a lawsuit called Channel Thompson v. City of Detroit et al. pub-detroitmi.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ash…
pub-detroitmi.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ash…
These documents are from a City Council internal operations standing committee meeting on March 6th, 2024. pub-detroitmi.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ash…
pub-detroitmi.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ash…
After almost three years of reporting on BOPC meetings, I finally made it to an in person meeting!
The meeting was just called to order at 3pm. There isn't a quorum yet, only Darryl Woods and Willie Burton are here.
Darryl Woods is introducing the new board secretary, who just shared the board announcements.
Sorry, Willie Bell, Cedrick Banks, and Eva Garza Dewaelsche are here as well. Linda Bernard just arrived at 3:05. https://x.com/mostlikelyalex/status/1829233499204895093
Tamara Smith QuanTez Pressley Ricardo Moore (requested excused absence) Linda Carter (requested excused absence) Jesus Hernandez Since Bernard entered the room, we now have a quorum.
We're going into the Chief's report, but another officer is here in place of Chief White. I think he is a deputy Chief but he did not introduce himself.
He briefly mentioned the DPD's crackdown on illegal block parties, saying the department is not targeting minor events like backyard barbecues.
The DPD celebrated their 1000th Project Green Light business partner on Tuesday, August 27th
Dewaelsche said the staffing report said the department has budgeted for 14 positions for mental health neighborhood police officers (NPOs) but none of the positions have been filled. She’s asking the deputy chief if there is a reason for that.
He said the department will be able to gradually fill those positions as more people graduate from the police academy. He said an existing officer would apply for the position if they meet the criteria and education requirements
Bernard is saying there are two programs implemented in schools for students, the Brotherhood and Sisterhood no boundaries programs headed by a deputy chief and captain. I think this program is happening in high schools and possibly grade schools.
Bernard is reading the department’s arrest policy. Woods keeps interrupting. Bernard is saying the people need to know this information, but Woods is insisting this shouldn’t be discussed during the Chief’s report and that she is out of order.
Bernard eventually asked the deputy chief to confirm this was the department’s current policy, and he said yes.
Board member Smith is concerned hearing about 46 minors who were shot this summer, with seven fatalities. The deputy chief said he needs to get hard numbers but believes that shootings of children are going down. This is not confirmed because he did not use concrete numbers.
Chair Woods said the chief released a press release about the shooting of Sherman Lee Butler. I'm not finding it as of now, all I'm finding is this letter to the chief detroitmi.gov/news/investiga…
detroitmi.gov/news/investiga…
The person representing the chief is actually Assistant Chief Fitzgerald.
Burton is asking if the department is investigating retired detective Barbara Simon, who he said committed perjury. cbsnews.com/detroit/news/p…
cbsnews.com/detroit/news/p…
He said there was a list of 100 officers and he thinks those officers can’t testify in court. He asked if any of those officers have been promoted, if there has been any discipline since the report came out.
Fitzgerald asked him to put this request in writing, Burton said it’s already on the record since they are discussing it in a public meeting. He said the public deserves to have an answer and he shouldn’t have to put it in writing.
Fitzgerald said he will answer the question if it’s put in writing.
There’s an investigation pending in the Wayne County Prosecutor about how to handle the shooting of Mr. Butler. Banks asked if the DPD is planning to file charges against the bailiff who killed Butler.
Minister Eric Blount urges the board to release footage of officer involved shootings the day after they occur, rather than the 21 days the board is pushing for
A public commenter is saying she has dealt with police misconduct from an undercover officer—she said his name is Frank. She made a report with OCI yesterday. She said she is tired of her life being in danger because police officers do not respect her.
Another commenter said they tried to tow his car in front of his house three times.
Lieutenant Mark Young said there were three police officers killed. He said he’s fine with hearing criticism against the department if there is also praise and being “one sided” makes a person biased and prejudiced.
Fitzgerald said there are a lot of complaints about abandoned vehicles in the city and they are “unapologetic” about getting rid of abandoned vehicles, campers, and boats across the city.
I missed one or two public commenters. The current speaker is saying she thinks the department should release body camera footage immediately to ensure transparency in the community.
Next commenter said the department and BOPC said conduct matters “on and off the court” and said the board should enforce the Crime Victim Rights to help with community relations. He is also shouting out a few officers in the department.
A commenter over zoom said he has not found much information about the death of Mr. Butler, and he said it’s hard to find this out because the department has not discussed it in detail.
Said it’s easy to spread misinformation when people don’t know what happened without body camera footage. He said this is going to keep happening and there needs to be more transparency and the department needs to release the footage.
Detroit Documenter and Detroit Eviction Defense organizer @4realmzbrown said nobody has been able to give any information or video about what happened during Mr. Butler’s eviction, and it feels like the police is trying to hide things from the public +
@4realmzbrown because Fitzgerald keeps requesting things in writing rather than addressing questions in the meeting.
@4realmzbrown Another commenter said there is no reason why there should be this long of a delay to release body camera footage
@4realmzbrown Chair Woods said the board has to work together with the department and the Mayor to advance policy and there is a process behind it.
@4realmzbrown Commenter who frequently comments on the death of Kaniesha Coleman is talking about how it's impossible that Coleman died of suicide (which is what officers concluded) due to where and how she was shot wdet.org/2021/12/23/a-g…
wdet.org/2021/12/23/a-g…
Another virtual commenter said the board’s job is not to protect the police, but to uphold police complaints from citizens. He specifically called out Chair Woods and member Hernandez.
Bernard said the board voted to receive a copy of memos regarding Kaniesha Coleman’s death and they have not yet received it yet.
Burton motioned for the board to post an attorney position. Woods said the board already has an attorney and was going to introduce him during new business. The attorney made a brief introduction (third from left)
Burton wants the board to have their own attorney. Commissioner Banks is seconding Burton’s motion, he’s been saying the board needs its own attorney for months. Hernandez said this is “entirely out of order” and needs to be discussed during new business.
So... now we are moving on to the Human Resources presentation.
There is no slides for this presentation, she's giving it entirely verbally (and quite quickly, I'm having a hard time catching all the information)
27 sworn suspensions--23 police officers, did not catch the other numbers (but I think there was one Lieutenant)
Bell asked if HR is able to virtually interview out of state candidates. The presenter said this is allowed.
Bernard said the department has almost 2700 officers and only 591 are city residents. There is a reason for this! I wrote about it: outliermedia.org/detroit-police…
outliermedia.org/detroit-police…
I think Commissioner Burton is leaving the meeting at 4:30 pm (will update if he returns)
The board is currently having a discussion about their choice to recommend a executive manager of policy but I am having a little trouble following their conversation.
Now the board is formally introducing the new attorney, who starts on Tuesday.
He's a former board secretary for the BOPC. Commissioner Bernard is telling him to be careful of perceived conflicts of interest. Dewaelsche is saying he has been very helpful already.
IMPORTANT: If you believe anything in the coverage today is inaccurate, please email us at documenters@outliermedia.org with "Correction Request" in the subject line.
Attachments
Agency Information
Detroit Board of Police Commissioners
The Board of Police Commissioners has supervisory control and oversight of the Police Department, including plenary authority over citizen complaints and the power to appoint fact finders, subpoena witnesses, administer oaths, take testimony, and require the production of evidence. The Board also appoints a civilian as Director of Police Personnel and approves all promotions made by the Chief. The 11 member board is comprised of 7 elected members from each city council district and 4 members appointed by the Mayor. https://detroitmi.gov/government/boards/board-police-commissioners
Documents
8/29/2024
8/29/2024
8/29/2024
8/29/2024
8/29/2024
More from this agency
Detroit Board of Police Commissioners
Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024
5:00 p.m. EDT
Detroit Board of Police Commissioners
Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024
3:00 p.m. EDT
Detroit Board of Police Commissioners
Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024
5:00 p.m. EDT
Detroit Board of Police Commissioners
Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024
3:00 p.m. EDT
Detroit Board of Police Commissioners
Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024
3:00 p.m. EDT