Board of Police Commissioners
Detroit Board of Police Commissioners
Criminal Justice
Thursday, July 28, 2022
3:00 p.m. — 6:00 p.m. EDT
Remote
Join meeting on Zoom: https://cityofdetroit.zoom.us/j/397380647?pwd=S1kzVzU4RURFb2NBRGJIb1kwWVNjdz09
Check the source website for additional information
Reporting
Edited and summarized by the Detroit - MI Documenters Team
Note-taking by
Tiffany Pilson
Deputy Chief Mark Bliss voices disapproval with City Council agreeing to $1M settlement with Detroit Will Breathe.
Live reporting by
Alex Klaus
Deputy Chief Mark Bliss voices disapproval with City Council agreeing to $1M settlement with Detroit Will Breathe.
Alex
@mostlikelyalex
đĄHighlightsđĄ from today's Detroit Board of Police Commissioners meeting for #DETdocumenters @media_outlier @Detour_Detroit @PlanetDetroit @freep @wdet @BridgeDet313 @DetDocumenters
06:20 PM Jul 28, 2022 CDT
Deputy Chief Mark Bliss made a statement regarding a recent lawsuit between the city and @DETwillbreathe. âThe Detroit Police Department thoroughly reviewed the proposed offer of judgment and strongly opposed authorization by city council.â twitter.com/mostlikelyalexâŚ
The alleged settlement responded to a lawsuit filed by @DETWillBreathe âclaiming police used excessive force against protesters and violated their First and Fourth Amendment rightsâ according to a Detroit Free Press article. freep.com/story/news/locâŚ
However, @Detwillbreathe posted a statement yesterday saying the city has not presented them with an offer and they have not accepted an offer. twitter.com/detwillbreatheâŚ
Bliss says the proposed offer for payments were equivalent to an officerâs full year salary for âphantom claims.â
âI strongly urge the City Council to reject this offer of judgement as a whole.â
âI strongly urge the City Council to reject this offer of judgement as a whole.â
According to Bliss, âthe vast majority of protests were peaceful, with police officers and protesters interacting cooperatively with officers often clearing traffic and closing intersections to protect protesters safety.â
âHowever,â Bliss continues, âthere were a few days when protesters began to act violently destructively or unlawfully when DPD officers had to take action to ensure the safety and security of the city of Detroit.â +
+ âOn the days that officers needed to take action, the department was proactive in learning about and investigating potential police misconduct.â
In July 2021, @DETwillbreathe posted a 20 minute video of body camera footage, along with media footage and other sources, of police brutality towards protesters on their Facebook page.Â
facebook.com/watch/?v=32394âŚ
facebook.com/watch/?v=32394âŚ
Live reporting by
Alex Klaus
Deputy Chief Mark Bliss voices disapproval with City Council agreeing to $1M settlement with Detroit Will Breathe.
Alex
@mostlikelyalex
Hey yâall! Today at 3pm, Iâll be live-tweeting today's Detroit Board of Police Commissioners meeting for #DETdocumenters @media_outlier @Detour_Detroit @PlanetDetroit @freep @wdet @BridgeDet313 @DetDocumenters
12:56 PM Jul 28, 2022 CDT
As always, please email documenters@outliermedia.org with the subject âCorrection Requestâ if you find something inaccurate
Todayâs agenda includes a 10 minute âGrants and Contractsâ presentation, along with a letter from interim Chief Investigator Lawrence Akbar regarding alleged âfalse narrativesâ by former OCI employees reported in a Detroit Free Press Article (see below) detroitmi.gov/sites/detroitm⌠https://t.co/zx24XCnshl
The article by @andreamsahouri reported that a former OCI employee experienced multiple instances of unprofessional behavior and harassment from OCI leadership. freep.com/story/news/202⌠twitter.com/mostlikelyalexâŚ
Commissioner Willie Bell: âThose claims are unfounded. It's just generalization, it's not factual.... We take these claims seriously. But the harassment, there's no substance to that at all â it's just sometimes you have individuals not happy with the department.â (1 of 2)
"I think it's just totally unfair to Akbar and Cromwell, who have done an excellent job" working within an understaffed and underfunded office. âI think that we've been unfairly scrutinized.... More people are aware of how to file a complaint, moreso than ever.â (2 of 2)
Last week, Commissioner Willie Burton commented that OCI is in worse shape than ever before, noting the number of resigned investigators in such a short period of time. Chair Brian Ferguson then cut him off, leading to an argument. twitter.com/mostlikelyalexâŚ
In last weekâs meeting, Interim Chief Investigator Akbar and Interim Secretary Melanie White from the Office of the Chief Investigator (OCI) reported a drop from 850 to 779 total backlogged citizens complaint cases. Theyâre shooting to close 75 cases in the next two weeks. twitter.com/mostlikelyalexâŚ
Page 2 of the agenda lists a closed session regarding a request for the board to âreconsider Administrative Leave without pay but with medical benefits for officer Munthar Al-Tamini, badge 33 assigned to the ninth precinct. A similar item appeared on the 6/23/22 meeting agenda. twitter.com/mostlikelyalexâŚ
Multiple viewers during that meeting, I included, got kicked off the call. This was all I was able to catch, however I cannot confirm whether this was regarding the closed session or not. I canât find a posted recording of the meeting, nor can I find meeting minutes to confirm. twitter.com/mostlikelyalexâŚ
Interim Secretary Melanie White says they are working with the Department of Innovation and Technology regarding the access to various board meeting replays. This might explain why I couldnât find the meeting recording for the meeting I mentioned previously.
Roll call:
Commissioners Willie Burton and QuanTez Pressley are absent. Commissioner Willie Bell is on his way.
Commissioner Ricardo Moore submitted an excused absence
Commissioners Willie Burton and QuanTez Pressley are absent. Commissioner Willie Bell is on his way.
Commissioner Ricardo Moore submitted an excused absence
Chief White is also absent as well. A Deputy Chief is here but I did not catch his name.
Chair Ferguson said he wants to publicly thank the IT department for working to get everything fixed not only for BOPC/DPD, but all the government departments.
He says there is a delay on some of the video uploads because theyâre putting on closed captioning
He says there is a delay on some of the video uploads because theyâre putting on closed captioning
He says today, DPDâs agency CFO will provide a presentation on âGrants and Contractsâ
Chair Ferguson mentioned a @DETWILLBREATHE settlement, and asked dept to share any information of the settlement
He says there were 137 citizens complaint cases closed in the month of July, including 31 since last Thursday, totaling 168. He says he will report numbers weekly.
He also says theyâll be moving their closed session to next week.
Also next week, theyâre going to try doing public comment at the beginning of the meeting. Commenters will still have 2 minutes to speak.
Also next week, theyâre going to try doing public comment at the beginning of the meeting. Commenters will still have 2 minutes to speak.
According to Deputy Chief: There are 6 injured off duty officers including:
1 sergeant from 2nd precinct
1 tactical services
1 auto theft unit
1 from ninth precinct
2 from the seven precinct
1 sergeant from 2nd precinct
1 tactical services
1 auto theft unit
1 from ninth precinct
2 from the seven precinct
Crime stats: He says non fatal shootings are down 8% and robberies are down 18%. detroitmi.gov/sites/detroitm⌠https://t.co/LapJP0ScaL
During their weekend drag racing and drift enforcement (July22-24) He says there was minimal activity. One vehicle impounded, one stolen vehicle recovered, and one felony arrest
Here is the weekly facial recognition report: detroitmi.gov/sites/detroitm⌠https://t.co/mhFpVclebN
Response regarding Detroit will breathe: Deputy says it was a âBusiness decision to mitigate damages at trial.â He says their officers âoverwhelmingly acted appropriately time and time again to protect free speech while also maintaining public safetyâ
He says individuals âhave not and will notâ be able to produce evidence that the DPD have wronged them in any way âto undercut the dedicated women and men of the departmentâ
He says the department self-initiated âseveral internal investigations based upon its own review of videos posted on social mediaâ but also the âdepartment actively engaged with community leaders to ensure a free flow of information concerning the actions of our officers during +
Burton is âa bit concernedâ about where the dept. and board is in regards to officers with body worn cameras. He says a lot of officers are not wearing body worn cameras. He also mentions the many protestors shot and thrown to the ground by officers.
Commissioner Bernard made a comment worth noting but if I try to capture it right now, Iâll miss other things. I will add it to my highlights.
I canât find the video at this moment, but there is a lengthy video of police violence against protestors.
freep.com/story/opinion/âŚ
freep.com/story/opinion/âŚ
Next up, the presentation about grants and contracts by Nevrus P. Nazarko
Iâm going to be transparent, Iâm not exactly sure what this report is about đ
Will try to make my highlights more detailed!
Okay so I think these are all different grants the department receives. For example, VOCA stands for âVictims of Crime Actâ https://t.co/dzHwz0x3ds
He skipped over many of his slides. The presentation is now finished https://t.co/kTzwVDmJGn
Commissioner Bernard says the VOCA is a huge grant. She says sheâs gotten funds from it.
They keep talking about âBlack Family Developmentâ
I think this is the website: blackfamilydevelopment.org
I think this is the website: blackfamilydevelopment.org
Iâm wondering if Black Family Development is on one of the presentation pages that was skipped over đ¤ because Iâm not seeing it in the presentation slides I caught
Commissioner Holley asked how many grant writers are employed by the department. Mr. Nazarko says he isnât sure, he knows there is at least one person working under him.
Commissioner Bernard says they as a board are entitled to receive grants but theyâve never done it.
Interim Secretary says that no personal items relating to the letter about the Detroit Free Press article can be disclosed or discussed in the open meeting.
Commissioner Banks says a grant writer would take the board to a âwhole nother levelâ
Moving onto new business. Commissioner Burton is requesting an additional 20 seconds for public comment because of commenters who have disabilities like speech impediments, mobility issues, etc. Nobody else seconded the motion so Chair Ferguson said it failed.
Thatâs disappointing considering we seem to be pretty ahead of time and are no longer going into closed session đ
On to public comment. There are 9 speakers, 2 in person, 5 on zoom, and two written.
Our first commenter says she is hesitant to go to Greektown âknowing whatâs going on with the police.â She says an officer approached her with hostility to move her car. She had more she said, but I didnât catch much. Will go back to it and try to add it to my highlights. +
The commenter said this was her first time encountering racism from the police department.
Minister Eric Blount says somebody needs to call out the police department about the Black Lives Matter Lawsuit.
Regarding the grants and contracts presentation, heâs asking where the update on the union contract?
Maybe it was within the slides they skipped
Regarding the grants and contracts presentation, heâs asking where the update on the union contract?
Maybe it was within the slides they skipped
Next commenter is asking for the boardâs intentions with moving the public comment time.
Our next public commenter is saying that it is disappointing that there has not been uploads of any of the meeting videos since June. He also brought up something else important about an exoneration on Mon, 11 am that I have to listen to my recording. Will add to highlights
Last commenter âOCI STAFF for the truthâ wrote in that they get feedback about harassment from all OCI staff, not just management. They said they have options, including a the ability to conduct their own investigation
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
No documents available
More from this agency
Detroit Board of Police Commissioners
Tuesday, July 30, 2024
5:00 p.m. EDT
Detroit Board of Police Commissioners
Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024
3:00 p.m. EDT
Detroit Board of Police Commissioners
Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024
6:30 p.m. EDT
Detroit Board of Police Commissioners
Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024
3:00 p.m. EDT
Detroit Board of Police Commissioners
Thursday, Aug. 22, 2024
3:00 p.m. EDT