BOPC hires Board Secretary and Chief Investigator after three years; unknown person found on BOPC payroll.
Good afternoon! Today at 3 pm, I’ll be live-tweeting the Board of Police Commissioners meeting for #DETdocumenters @media_outlier @wdet @freep @PlanetDetroit @BridgeDet313 @metrotimes @chalkbeatDET @MichiganRadio @wxyzdetroit
01:59 PM Feb 16, 2023 CST
Today’s Agenda: https://detroitmi.gov/sites/detroitmi.localhost/files/events/2023-02/Agenda%20February%2016%2C%202023.pdf
Source website: https://detroitmi.gov/events/board-police-commissioners-meeting-february-16-2022
Documenters coverage: https://detroit.documenters.org/assignments/board-of-police-commissioners-5647/ https://t.co/UW5sMlGAFg
The board’s website lists the topic as “Annual Report and O.I.E.R (Office of Internal External Relations).
A presentation from former Chief James Craig claims the O.I.E.R “leads DPD’s efforts to further bridge the gap between the community and the police.” https://detroitmi.gov/sites/detroitmi.localhost/files/2021-02/Office%20Internal%20External%20Relations.pdf
The department announced the launching of O.I.E.R back in October, 2020. More from @Freep https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2020/10/21/detroit-police-department-office-internal-external-relations/3721426001/
The board called the meeting to order, but there was not a quorum present so they are currently in a recess.
A woman is telling the board they can call the meeting to order, announce there isn’t a quorum, and start public comment. She says they don’t need a quorum to do public comment.
Commissioner Jim Holley is explaining why they can’t run the meeting without a quorum
- Couldn’t hear what he was saying at first because his sound was very quiet. He’s a DPD Lieutenant and praising the police department. Wants people to look at “what law enforcement face[s] every day”
- Robert Carmack. Says Mayor Duggan falsely charged him. He has been talking about this in public comment for a long time.
Some context from @freep https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/wayne/2022/10/24/charges-against-bob-carmack-dismissed-after-4-years/69587732007/
- Went to a meeting a few weeks ago regarding an instance of officer misconduct from the Seventh Precinct. Says she feels like they’re being investigated, not the officers. She wants to know why the body camera footage is not being released to the board.
She says she wants the officers removed. She said they were very aggressive and escalated the situation.
Vice Chair Holt is saying they are involved in “non criminal incidents”
Commissioner Holley says this is above their pay grade and they want Chief White to respond.
Chief White said this investigation is with internal affairs. He says the investigation is still going on and they’re going to have a “restorative circle” which includes the victims of the situation.
- Minister Eric Blount. Asks if Chair Ferguson is standing by his statement that “this service provided” to the family (perhaps regarding the previous speaker) is a great example of oversight. Says they cannot trust anything the board says.
I’m think this is the incident that commenter #3 was talking about. https://twitter.com/mostlikelyalex/status/1616182696002076693
I think this is the incident that Ferguson commented on that Blount mentioned in his public comment https://twitter.com/mostlikelyalex/status/1616182701802799104
- Says her home was broken into. Says she can’t get the police to help her. Asks the board to help. She was eventually cut off and the board didn’t try to figure out why the police aren’t helping her.
- Says policing is failing. She says we need the citizens to believe in the police department. She also says the DPD needs to “root out all the bad.” She says policing may be a stressful job, but says thats just part of the job and if they don’t like it, they should quit
We’re going into roll call.
Present:
Holt
Bernard
Banks
Burton
Moore
Hernandez
Holley
Pressley
Absent
Bell
Carter
Chief White had his officers introduce themselves. I didn’t hear any of them talk but saw the ASL interpreter fingerspelling names while the audio was off.
From Commissioner Jesus Hernandez about empty Chief Investigator and Board Secretary positions
21 candidates apply for board secretary
16 candidates applying for Chief Investigator
Scheduled 8 candidates to interview for the positions and 2 declined the interview on Feb 10th.
The BOPC is going to discuss their opinions about a motion to recommend to appoint Victoria Shaw as the board’s secretary.
A woman said it’s undebatable and they just need to roll call.
Holt -Yes
Bernard - Yes
Banks - Yes
Burton -He said something and didn’t clarify so his vote didn’t count
Hernandez Yes
Moore Yes
Holley Yes
Pressley Yes
There’s a motion to recommend BOPC’s appointment for Jerome (Spelling??) Warfril?
Apparently they’re able to debate this. I don’t know why they could debate about this, but why they couldn’t debate about the last motion.
Commissioner Bernard says she think’s he’s vert involved with the community, but he’s a minister and she doesn’t believe he can commit full time to the position and therefore will not be recommending him.
Commissioner Holley says as a pastor, he thinks they should ask him if he can do both, or if he’s willing to give up one or the other
Commissioner Holt is saying Chair Burton needs to keep his comment to 10 seconds. He said he can speak longer because they let Commissioner Bernard talked for 3 minutes. Now he’s commenting with unrestricted time.
Commissioner Burton said it would’ve been nice to see every applicant that applied for the Secretary position and Chief Investigator. He says he’s impressed with Jerome’s skillset and how he helped enhance the office. He thinks Warfril is the man for this position.
Someone is saying that the Commissioners have the opportunity to ask the candidates questions during “this process”.
Vice Chair Holt is saying if the board is open to asking Warfield questions, then that is the wish of the board.
The parliamentarian says parliamentary law says motion does not provide for questioning of a candidate.
Warfield is coming to the microphone. He’s talking about what he does in his community. Mentions he was a full time pastor when he sat on the BOPC board for 2 years or when he ran different volunteer programs. He says he can “absolutely, positively” fully commit to the position.
I missed what they voted about here but it was not about recommending Warfield as Chief Investigator.
Holt Yes
Bernard No
Banks
Burton Yes
Moore Yes
Hernandez Yes
Holley Yes
Pressley Yes
NOW vote to recommend Jerome Warfield for the Chief Investigator position:
Holt Yes
Bernard No
Banks Yes
Burton Yes
Moore Yes
Hernandez Yes
Holley Yes
Pressley Yes
Burton wants to vote to pay the Chief Investigator and Secretary the same dollar amount they paid the interim secretary and investigator.
Chief White stepped out and a Deputy Chief is reading the report instead.
Weekly facial recognition report: https://detroitmi.gov/sites/detroitmi.localhost/files/events/2023-02/230213%20BOPC%20Facial%20Rec%20Report.pdf https://t.co/xXRWFdOueB
The deputy chief is saying car thefts are rising and Bernard is asking what residents can use to prevent the auto theft. He says people who park in parking garages or well lit parking lots have less risk.
He also says they are increasing inspections of businesses that may sell parts that are stolen from cars.
Commissioner Burton is asking for a copy of the core report and is asking for names listed in the report. Deputy Chief said he had the report with him now. Burton said he wants that report, and specifically added he doesn’t want anything redacted. Deputy Chief said there’s +
Deputy Chief said he’s not going to give Burton his copy and said to get the report on his own.
Don’t know why he backtracked here.
Former commissioner William Davis says Detroit NAN is having a digital equity tour and thinks the department could come to recruit people as police officers.
D4 CAC member Scotty Boman says he’s bothered by the lack of transparency in the selecting process for Chief Investigator and Secretary and thinks finalists should’ve been interviewed publicly before voting.
Commissioner Banks is asking when the chief investigator and secretary will start their positions.
Hernandez says his soonest start date is Feb 27th but it depends on the candidates availability.
If you find anything inaccurate, please email documenters@outliermedia.org with the subject “Correction Request”.