Detroit Board of Police Commissioners meeting, Dec. 15, 2022
Commissioners are concerned about the Detroit Police Department’s (DPD) intent to use new so-called “less-lethal” weapons without a permanent policy to regulate their use.
A DPD representative said the department is currently drafting that policy, which may take “quite a long time.” In the interim the representative said Chief of Police James White will authorize the use of those weapons through a temporary special use policy. Commissioner Willie Bell said this kind of policy is only meant for emergencies and feared that DPD is overriding the board’s authority.
The permanent policy for the new weapons will be presented to the board and City Council for approval.
Residents and commissioners want more traffic enforcement and safety measures to discourage drivers from running red lights and driving recklessly.
The board postponed job interviews for its board secretary position. This open position has been temporarily filled since 2019 by Interim Board Secretary Melanie White.
Chairperson Bryan Ferguson strongly rejected that the board has any oversight responsibility in the city’s new towing contracts. Oversight over towing contracts was transferred from the board to City Council last year in response to corruption.
Table of Contents
Documentation
The meeting was live-blogged on Mastodon and Twitter for Detroit Documenters, which offers its own report.
Documents available on Documenters.org, including the meeting agenda.
The previous meeting on Dec. 8 was documented by Alex Klaus and Meghan Rutigliano. The next meeting on Dec. 16 was not documented. The next documented meeting on Jan. 5, 2023, was documented by Alex Klaus and Kelly Salaam.
Visit the agency’s website for official information.
Related news articles
- “Detroit Police announce new initiative to improve mental health crisis intervention”
Dec. 15, 2022, Russ McNamara, WDET 101.9 FM - “Auto theft victims could see towing fees disappear under new reforms”
Dec. 14, 2022, Malachi Barrett, BridgeDetroit - “Detroit police adds foam bullets, wi-fi cameras to Crisis Intervention Team for mental health calls”
Dec. 14, 2022, Amy Lange and David Komer, WJBK - “Key oversight positions for police commissioners still open after almost 3 years — so, City’s Lawyers step in”
Nov. 22, 2022, Malak Silmi, Outlier Media - “How Detroit plans to end ‘traffic violence epidemic’”
Sept. 19, 2022, Malachi Barrett, BridgeDetroit
Materials
Archived pages
Mastodon posts and meeting page are archived on the Internet Archive Wayback Machine.
Audio
The actual start of the meeting (3:01 p.m.) can be heard 31 minutes into the recording.
Images
Screenshots of online meeting. Due to limited resources, image descriptions are provided on request — contact me.
Meta
Page published Dec. 15, 2022.
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