BOPC learns police officers that perjured themselves are still on the force
Good afternoon! I’ll be live-tweeting today’s Board of Police Commissioners meeting for #DetroitDocumenters. The meeting begins at 3pm and is being held virtually on Zoom. @media_outlier @CitizenDetroit @Detour_Detroit @wdet
01:29 PM May 6, 2021 CDT
Here’s today’s agenda, and information on how to join the meeting can be found at https://detroitmi.gov/events/board-police-commissioners-virtual-meeting-may-6-2021 https://t.co/X3kAdTUfe3
The BOPC has supervisory control and oversight of the Detroit Police Department, and consists of 11 commissioners, 7 of whom are elected to represent each district, and 4 at-large who are appointed by the Mayor with approval by City Council.
For background on past meetings, check out previous reporting by @DetDocumenters at https://detroit.documenters.org/reporting/
The meeting has just been called to order, and Chaplain Charleston Day gave the Invocation. Commissioners are introducing themselves. With the exception of Comm’r Willie Burton (district 5), the entire board is present.
Chair Willie Bell just gave a brief report, and Vice Chair Annie Holt is now reading the first resolution for today, condemning the Alameda police killing of Mario Gonzalez. https://www.npr.org/2021/04/28/991499650/man-dies-after-alameda-calif-police-pin-him-to-ground-for-several-minutes
The resolution was adopted and placed into the archives of the BOPC. Comm’r Bernard requested the resolution be sent to the family of Mario Gonzalez. Chair Bell replied this is not the time or the place for such a request. Comm’r Burton has joined the meeting.
The second resolution, encouraging law enforcement to embrace civilian oversight, was unanimously approved and placed into the archives.
Comm’r Brown is reading a third resolution not listed on the agenda, honoring Investigator Gail Johnson Brown, who has served the citizens of Detroit for 44 years. Resolution adopted.
Deputy Chief of Police Mark Bliss is reporting for DPD. Robberies down 33%, carjackings up 34%, overall crime is down 10%. 43 members of the dept are quarantined for Covid. 89 felony arrests Apr 26-May 2, 63 handguns and 2 long guns recovered.
DC Bliss is taking questions. Comm’r Burch requested more speed cushions around Dequindre and 6 mile. Comm’r Davis is asking whether the Chief supports the George Floyd Act, as he heard he did not- DC Bliss does not want to speak for the Chief.
Comm’r Burton is asking whether DPD has considered pausing their facial recognition program. DC Bliss replies no, it’s a valuable tool in the tool box and he hopes they continue using it to seek justice for numerous victims of crime.
Burton would like to know if DPD has any plans to ease people’s fear of the technology with education and outreach. Bliss stated this is an ongoing conversation they need to have with the public, but this tech is not used randomly, and each request requires approval.
Comm’r Holley is concerned about the 118 homicides this year, and would like to know what he can do. DC Bliss replied everyone needs to keep supporting the police, and to encourage citizens to talk to DPD when they have information on a crime.
Comm’r Bernard is also concerned, but Chair Bell has asserted that they will not solve the problem of homicides at this meeting, and should end this discussion and move on with the next item on the agenda.
Chris Graveline is giving a presentation on the police department’s Disciplinary Administration. https://t.co/OMBrkeemMn
Comm’r Brown, on behalf of several citizens, would like to know why some officers who were caught lying on the stand are still on the job. Graveline replied that Chief Craig only notified police in 2018 that they would be fired for this, so any cases prior to that do not apply.
Really!? It’s rather astounding that police officers wouldn’t already understand they could be fired for lying or filing false reports. But apparently they have to be warned first. And he confirmed that officers caught in cases dating back to 2013, 2014 are still on the job.
Chair Willie Bell is concerned that not enough discipline is being doled out for police officers who swear and use foul language when dealing with the public. Graveline agrees.
Comm’r Jones and Graveline are discussing that all too often after citizens file a complaint against an officer, they fail to respond when OCI reaches out to them for further details. Without the follow-up these complaints simply go nowhere.
Chair Bell believes this meeting is taking too long, so he’s skipped the reports in section XI of the agenda, and we’ve just moved ahead to unfinished business. So no reports on Facial Rec, 2020 protests, PGL, or this news on police use of force: https://www.gazettextra.com/news/nation_world/police-in-michigans-2-largest-cities-using-more-force-as-resistance-grows/article_b6bdb803-f874-523f-a249-d6f1ec24264d.html
Manual Directive 102.3 regarding Bias-Based Policing passed, with both Brown and Bernard voting No. Comm’r Burton’s computer battery died, so he has now joined this meeting via phone call.
Manual Directive 401.3 Promotional Process was tabled, and Manual Directive 403.5 Drug and alcohol abuse by department policy was approved.
We’re on to the new business: Chief Investigator Interviews. Mr. Marquis Scott is about to take questions by the Board.
Comm’r Holley asked Scott if he thought his history working in the DPD would be a conflict of interest for him to now investigate police misconduct. Scott replied that it would not be a conflict, as he investigated over 100 cases of misconduct while a precinct Staff Sergeant.
Asked to discuss his history working with public boards and oversight agencies, Mr. Scott replied that he had none. When asked what qualifications he had that are important to being a Chief Investigator, he answered: Leadership.
Apparently there is a mixup with who they are interviewing. Every commissioner had the resume for a Patrick Scott who they planned to interview. The man taking questions is Marquis Scott. They’ve ended the interview as no one seems to know what’s going on.
Moving on to public comment, the first two commenters criticized the disfunction they see with this Board.
Several commissioners apparently left the meeting early rather than stay and hear public comments. With no more comments before the Board, the meeting was adjourned at 5:23pm.
The Board of Police Commissioners meet every Thursday at 3pm. For more coverage on this and other meetings, check out http://documenters.org. And consider becoming a Documenter yourself! Get paid to report on your local government. :)