Board of Police Commissioners

Detroit Board of Police Commissioners

Criminal Justice

Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024
3:00 p.m. EST

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Reporting

Edited and summarized by the Detroit - MI Documenters Team

Note-taking by Matt Schonert

Chief Investigator Jerome Warfield plans to introduce a project called the "Timeliness Initiative" at the Feb. 27 Citizens Complaint Committee meeting to address the backlog of citizen complaints. Cases over 366 days old do not generate disciplinary actions per union contracts.

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Live reporting by Nathaniel Eichenhorn

Nachum Eichenhorn @NachumDetroit

Hello, Detroit! I will be live-tweeting today's meeting of the @DetroitBOPC at 3:00pm for Detroit Documenters @DetDocumenters media partners: @BridgeDet313 @chalkbeatDET @freep @metrotimes @MichiganRadio @media_outlier @PlanetDetroit @wdet @wxyzdetroit

01:10 PM Feb 15, 2024 CST

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"The Board of Police of Commissioners was created in 1974 by City Charter, which was adopted by the vote of the people. The Charter vests broad supervisory authority over the Police Department in the eleven-member civilian Board of Police Commissioners."

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Info from:

detroitmi.gov/government/boa…

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The meeting has been called to order and is short a quorum and Chaplain Muhammad Ali gave the invocation

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So there can't be any morons in this meeting due to the lack of quorum. The meeting will operate under an amended agenda

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The board has established a quorum
Smith present
Brown present
Banks absent
Carter absent
Hernandez present
Gamble present
Wood present

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The agenda and minutes have been approved

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Mr. Brown is introducing the BOPC staff.

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A motion to remove the task analyst position and establish the oversight position

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Comm'r Smith is a resolution to recognize community relations leader Ruth Barton for her activism on behalf of the people of Detroit

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"for her pioneering contributions and bridging the gap between police and the people of the city"

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Resolution adopted! Happy birthday Ruth!

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Presley asks Brown to make an announcement about safe storage laws in regard to guns. The board is making this announcement in order to keep citizens aware of the new law

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This law was enacted due to several people, including children, who have been killed by negligent and accidental discharges.

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Now we move to the community impact report.

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OCI is establishing a new initiative to better close old cases.

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Staff will be selected to investigate cold cases over 12 months old

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The backlog will be thoroughly investigated and there will be a special focus on the possibility of finding police misconduct.

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OCI is still under staffed and at present unable to resolve the backlog

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Deputy chief Stewart is sitting in for chief White today to deliver the chief of police report

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When 27% reduction in violent crime

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119 overdose related cakes the last week.

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5th precinct is investigating the disappearance of a 13-year-old girl?

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Triple shooting on Feb 13. 1 dead, 2 critically injured.

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In nicer news, the department has been posting material on social media for Black History Month with the young Police Explorers

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Hernandez has a question about Azaya Harris, the missing girl. Hernandez ass about a perceived delay in investigating.

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Stewart: the Detroit public school police has been investigating since January 10th and only recently was responsibility transferred to the Detroit Police Department.

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Question: and last week's meeting there was mention of a device called a "switch". What is that?

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Stewart answers that it is an illegal device used to convert a semi-automatic Glock pistol into an automatic machine pistol.

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Stewart describes a non-lethal remote restraint device the department is buying. It shoots a rope that restrains the person it is deployed against.

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A representative of the major crimes unit is attempting to assure the board that the police department is very thoroughly investigating the disappearance of Azaya

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Presley asked if the crime numbers reflect incidents called in or rest made. Stewart answers that the numbers represent incidents called in.

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Presley is transitioning the meeting to the public comment section. Due to technical difficulties during last week's meeting. There will be extended time for comment

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Eric Williams of the Detroit Justice Center details numerous issues with Project Greenlight and questions whether the board exhibits too much deference to the DPD. Says that the department has not given sufficient evidence of the projects effectiveness.

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He mentioned a study by Michigan State University that shows that project greenlight has very little effectiveness.

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And questions the wisdom of employing a technology that is not been reviewed or approved by an official policy.

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Williams further points out that the DPD gives full presentations to the board every week community watchdog organizations and community activists have never been given a comparable amount of time to voice their concerns.

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Reverend Blunt also commented that the board does not sufficiently question the statistics and statements of the DPD

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Second precinct community relations council president accuses the DPD of interfering in the business of the council and of threatening her with removal for being "too political"

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Pearl Martin accuse the 8th precinct of harassment. Claims she has been denied access to the police precinct because of an issue with her son.

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Commissioner Presley directs Ms. Martin and her son to consult with investigator Sloan in order to see the issue dealt with.

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Now the boys will hear Zoom callers

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The board* sorry

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Caller Victoria voices concerns about citizens being given enough time to adequately address issues to the board

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Former board member calls in and shares for the board getting for itself a higher profile.

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He also protests the appointment of Comm'r Bell as Chair, citing an Inspector General 's report that found Bell to have acted inappropriately.

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Caller Scotty Bowman how a friend of his was turned away from a DPD precinct when trying to file a missing person's report

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Caller Sharon Solomon is bothered by the presence of a flashing green Project Greenlight light, saying it has sent a signal to criminals that the area is a "bad area" and subsequently theft and other crimes have increased.

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Caller Solomon questions whether Project Greenlight areas are actually first priority, as the DPD has said

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The board is moving on to presentations. Human Resources Council director Patillo is presenting the human resources report for January

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DPD officers had. 64% pass rate for a physical fitness test

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The presenter is going very fast through very dense information. It's hard to keep track of what is being said, let alone take notes.

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Ethnic/racial/gender makeup of the Academy now:

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Patillo has been asked about the Transit Police being absorbed by DPD. Patillo days she can get more into for next weeks meeting.

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A Commissioner has expressed concerns that the current Rachel, makeup of the police academy is quite divergent from the demographics of the city itself. Specifically that 47% of the class is Black, while 78% of the city population is Black.

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Now Exec Manager Fries is delivering the BOPC Budget Actuals

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Commissioner Bernard is asking to know precisely what the department has bought in the past year including the aforementioned non-lethal weapons.

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Bernard says that the board really needs to spend more time going in depth in the budget to understand the data more fully.

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Commissioner woods is asking about compensation for department chaplains. Currently there is none.

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Board secretary Robert Brown is delivering communications.

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Commissioner Hernandez, chair of the Personell and Training Committee is giving the Committee's report.

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The Committee is recommending to the BOPC to retain iAdvantage as a search firm to find a new Secretary, and to find 3-5 candidates

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Commissioner woods is voicing a concern that the board is only being presented with one search firm to choose from. Hernandez responds that it more expansive process would take too long and be inconvenient to the purpose.

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A vote was just taken to accept the recommendation and passed

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Comm'r Lisa Carter is going to give the Budget Committee Report

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The report was very short and basically just said a more comprehensive report will be patched next week.

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The board has just entered a closed section to consider a disqualified applicant appeal from the DPD hiring process. I'll let you know when they come out again.

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Oops again! Closed SESSION. they're going into closed SESSION

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The meeting reconvened at 5:43pm. Carter moves to reinstate the candidate into the competitive process but receives no second and the motion is not carried.

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The meeting was adjourned at 5:43pm

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This closes my coverage of the Detroit Board of Police Commissioners Meeting for February 15, 2024. Learn more about our coverage of local meetings here:

Documenters.org

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If you believe anything in these notes is inaccurate, please email us at documenters@outliermedia.org with "Correction Request" in the subject line.

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Oh jeez, just saw l wrote “morons” up there when I meant “motions”. Sorry about that!

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Attachments

Transcript and recording

By Noah Kincade 2/15/2024

Agency Information

Detroit Board of Police Commissioners

www.detroitmi.gov

(313) 596-1830

bopc@detroitmi.gov

See Documenters reporting

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