how are you? Oh, it's three, almost ready over there.
Recording in progress. It is May 22 2025. Is 301, the board of police commission meeting is called to order. We have Chaplain Teresa Madison via zoom for the invocation.
I apologize, chair, see, I cannot find her on zoom at this time. Can't find on
zoom right now. Okay,
was with a reverend. Now
ask Him. Ask Him what He Yeah,
grab the Reverend right quick. So
ask him what he come do the invocation for you.
Thanks. Okay, you want thanks? We haven't.
Yeah, we if he get them beginning,
right? You
No.
Can you do the invocation for us? Good sir? Yes, sir. Yes, sir. For the record,
my name is Minister Eric blunt from Sacred Heart Catholic church right here in Detroit in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Let us pray heavenly father. We thank you for this day and this opportunity to do justice and to walk humbly with our God Lord. We thank you especially this day for whatever good works commissioner Jesus Hernandez has done for us in our community, there's always more, always better. But Lord, we, we hope and pray that justice, transparency, peace and love will reign in the city and in this board, Lord, we ask that you bless everyone on the board of police commissioners, the whole police department and all of The community who have benefited and some have suffered under this rain, this we pray in Jesus name and for his sake,
amen. Amen.
We waiting on a quorum. In the midst of us waiting on a quorum, we want to be able to go to
public comment. Let's get that started.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, we have three speakers so far. Our first speaker will be Ernest Riley, Minister, Eric blunt, Mr. Diya Butler, you.
Hello, hi. My name is Ernest Riley.
If you could talk in the mic for us, please, thank you. Hello, hi.
My name is Ernest Riley. I want to please excuse the wedding. I'm dressed. I wasn't prepared to come today. Make a long story short, I went to the police station about an hour ago to receive my merchandise. I'm a vendor. I've been a vendor for over 15 years in Detroit. I keep getting tickets for vendor with no license. Got them all right here, the judge dismissed all my tickets over and over again. She dismissed it. She got on the Zoom and told me I can go back to the police station to receive my items, which were things such as cowboy hats. May have been some Santa Claus hats, toys at this Christmas tree. I do a lot of vending downtown, so a lot of police know me, and a lot of police officers don't mind me because they know I got a vendor license. We'll make a long story short. Make it shorter. They told me I couldn't get my stuff back because I took a plea bargain, which I didn't take a plea bargain. Here go the paper, right here, saying that I didn't agree to a plea bargain. So therefore it keep telling me I can't get my merchandise back. I got all my tickets dismissed. They told me. Another officer told me that that merchandise was donated. I'm confused on how my merchandise was donated before the court date even came, and if it was donated, I got, like, maybe over 10 tickets. For each ticket was a different item that they confiscated from me. So every time that they took stuff from me, what they donated? I would just like to know where it was donated to how was it donated, and why was it donated. I go back to the police station to ask them, What could I get, some documentation, or if y'all donated my stuff, or if it was forfeited? It told me, No, I can't get none of that. I got video recording other police taking my stuff. One particular time. I was at the lions game the NFL. They got the NFL riding around looking for bootleg merchandise. The NFL told me my merchandise was not bootleg. Told me it was not counterfeit merchandise. He told me that every I did everything with the with the standards by the NFL, and they still took my merchandise. Okay,
Chief, can you address that situation?
Yes, Chief, Todd medicine. For the record, I'm somewhat familiar with Mr. Riley's case, and have looked into it, and I'm not familiar with the most recent aspects as far as how the court case concluded, whether it's whether or not Mr. Riley plead so I'll have to look at that after the meeting. Have my people look at it my staff. But in regards did look into the actual business license aspect of it. And in reading that he doesn't have authorization to bend downtown, that's just how the ordinance is issued by the city of Detroit. And so in regards to his property, I did have my Chief of Staff look and personally go over to the third precinct. And so from what the report is back that I got, that his actual property is at the third precinct. And so in fact, if what you're saying is accurate, sir, and that the case was, in fact, dismissed, and you didn't plea to it in that the court is saying, give the property back. Then we will give your property back to you, sir,
yes, sir, okay, um, I heard when you said that I didn't have a standard license to be downtown, but now I have one. Back then I had a foot been a license such as, like the rose man or the flower man, things of that nature. But now they've granted me a station talking to Mike young man, oh, sir. Now they've granted me a stationary location for downtown, which it says, um, Midway and Adams, Adams Park. So now I do have a
stationary So, okay, so his team is going to get with you and what needs to be rectified. I hear the chief said it will be rectified, and we will go from there, and then I'm sure that you know we we want a report out to us as to what was to find these one way or the other. So thank you, sir, and get what I think Deputy Chief Williams was trying to reach out to you
and thank you. Okay, thank you very much for your time, Madam
Secretary, please call the roll
Commissioner woods, present,
Commissioner banks, present Commissioner Bell four, Commissioner burden, present district five, Commissioner Hernandez, present, Commissioner DeWalt, present, Commissioner Carter is excused. Commissioner more excused. Sixth, present, sir,
we have a quorum. Thank you. Entertain a motion for the approval of May 2020, 25 agenda. So move, move by Commissioner Hernandez, second, by Commissioner Bell and discussion. All in favor. Say, aye. Aye. Anyone opposed. The motion is carried, entertain a motion for the approval of the minutes of May 15, 2025, so moved, moved by Commissioner Hernandez and second by Commissioner Bell. Any discussion, all in favor? Say, aye. Aye. Anyone opposed, the motion is carried, introduction of vopc staff, Chief of Police and elected officials or representatives
present today, board of police commissioner, staff attorney, Dante Goss chief investigator, Jerome Warfield, Drew freeze, Felicia Tyson, Mary Barber, Theresa blossom, Candace, Hayes, Artemisia Joshua Junior Underwood, supervising investigator, lasagna Sloan, DPD, HR director Katrina petillo, police chief Todd Bettison. Our interpreters today are Ms Shikata and Dr Stephanie Beatty, court reporter, Don Handyside, Henri Jackson for audio visual, and Charles Henry for media services, video recorded thus far, having registered, signed in. Marie overall for state representative, Tyrone Carr is Freedia Butler, second precinct Community Relations President Ladon Davis from the Office of council member Fred der Hall on Zoom. Mark, young president of the lieutenants and sergeants Association, Scotty Bowman, and former Detroit Police Commissioner William Davis, both on Zoom. And those are the individuals registered at this time. Sir. Thank
you very kindly. We have a resolution honor and retired officer Kevin Patrick, human sleep and so we read it, resolution honoring police officer Calvin Calvin Patrick, Patrick, whereas Calvin Patrick, a Detroit native with a love of history and A dynamic personality, was drawn to public service. His interest led him to submit applications to become a Detroit police officer or a firefighter. The Police Department proved quicker to secure his skills and talent by accepting Him to the training academy on October the 24th 1977 officer. Patrick was appointed to the Detroit Police Department. And whereas police officer Patrick loved his job in law enforcement, his assignments included special duty unit Detroit Metropolitan Police Academy section, communications, Operations section and western district, he became known as a consummate a professional for his respectful and effective engagement in serving and protecting the community. And whereas on Friday May 24 1996 officer Patrick and his partner, Officer Kathy Warren, were patrolling the residential air area when they saw two youth on the street during school hours. The officer stopped the patrol car to question the teenagers, ages 14 and 16 years old, about skipping school and the shocking and a violent attack, one or both teenagers open fire, striking officer Warren in the hand and Officer Patrick several times and his torso and chest. One bullet pierced his spine and caused paralysis, and whereas police officer Patrick refused to let the attempted murder or the paralysis stop him from serving the public or from living and enjoying the full life with grit and determination. He learned to drive using hand controls and return to work, work for several years before receiving duty disability on August 14, 2006 ultimately succumbing to the gunshot wounds sustained in the line of duty. Officer Patrick badge, 4458, passed away on February 6, 2025, as 68 years old, the greater Detroit, Detroiter community will gather Saturday, May 31 2025 for a special remembrance of his bravery, dedicated service and inspiring perseverance. Now therefore be it resolved. The Board of police commissioners award this resolution humorously to police officer Calvin Patrick in recognition of his dedicated and distinguished service to the Detroit Police Department and the resident residents of the city of Detroit, may his selfish, selfless sacrifice and commitment as a law enforcement professional forever be remembered. Come on, give this officer a hand and appreciation for his dedicated service. As I don't know if there's anyone here to receive the award for him. If not, we would give it to the chief to make sure that the family is accommodated. Is that right?
Mr. Chairman, yes,
yes. And let me do the motion first, and then we do discuss it.
What is the pleasure?
So move, move motion to move to to adopt this resolution is supported by Commissioner de Walsh. Any discussion,
Mr. Chair, I just want to add that please pray for his partner, Kathy Warren, she's having some health challenge. Absolutely,
absolutely, any other further discussion. All in favor, say, aye, aye. And the motion is carried. Anyone opposed, the motion is carried.
We also
want to recognize our Distinguished Chair of personnel and training committee, a very, very honorable leader in this city, someone who have dedicated his time and resources and talents to the citizens of the city of Detroit, and that that being Commissioner, hey, Sue. Hey, Sue Hernandez. He has done yeoman's job and serving this community, and has led our personnel and training committee committee with dignity, respect and compassion, and has I'm this in awe of his talents, someone I consider to be a friend has has really sacrificed a lot. He's this man working corporate America, and for those who don't know, the board of police commissioner don't get a paycheck, and doing committee meetings, and coming to all these meetings and doing all the things that he has done to sacrifice for the citizens of the city Detroit, has been amazing to me. And so we have a resolution for him, and I'm going to ask
Chairman preferably to
read that resolution, Let the record reflect that he's here be
my Resolution honoring police commissioner Jesus Hernandez, whereas Jesus Hernandez has etched a lasting mark on the city of Detroit, its residents and its institutions during many years of civic leadership and community service, including recently as a member of the Board of police commissioners. And whereas police commissioner Hernandez joined the board in May 2020, following his appointment by Mayor Mike Duggan and confirmation by the city council during a critical time, he helped steer the board the police department and the city through twin global challenges from the COVID 19 pandemic and a new police reform movement after the murder of George Floyd by a city of Minneapolis, Minnesota police officer and whereas, along with his powerful commitments to community involvement in public service, Commissioner Hernandez contributed greatly to the board of police commissioners through business acumen as an executive at Ford Motor Company, DTE Energy and Blue Cross, Blue Shield of Michigan, most notably Commissioner Hernandez served as the personnel and training committee chair during two national searches for a chief of police, which culminated In the 10 years of Chief James White and chief Todd Bettison as committee chair, he also led the hiring expansion of investigators of the Office of Chief Investigator the board's investigative unit for public complaints against police officers and other departmental employees. And whereas Commissioner Hernandez continues to be a forceful leader for uplifting and improving the community, and his many other leadership roles in local and state organizations such as the Michigan Hispanic collaborative, Detroit, is that M, O, T, T, E, P foundation and Hispanic Latino commission of Michigan, since last fall, Commissioner Hernandez has been A part of the historic milestone as one of two Hispanic board members serving at the same time as he completes his five year term this month, the board and community will long remember his contributions and impact. Now therefore be resolved that the Detroit board of police commissioners awards this resolution in recognition of dedicated and diligent service by police commissioner Jesus Hernandez, your dedication and commitment to civilian oversight the city of Detroit and residents married our highest regard. We salute you, Commissioner Jesus Hernandez, for a job well done. And wish you continued success in the future. The Board of police commissioners accountability through civilian oversight adopted by the Board of police commissioners, I guess after this motion on May 22 2025,
was just a
pleasure solution into our archives,
moved by Commissioner Presley and second by Commissioner de wash. Any discussion
I have discussion, it has been an honor to serve with Commissioner Hernandez. You know he has again been a steady voice on this commission. Is, as you stated in the resolution marks, leading our personnel and training committee, and I look forward to his leaving, because as I am getting older, is very few settings that I get to be the youngest at the table, so I can at least claim that for a bit of time. But again, I honor your dedicated service, and you indeed will be missed at the commission. Mr.
Chair, yes, yes, thank you. And I would also like to give comment commit commend the commissioner for his service on this board. He said on many committees, including the Budget Committee, which I chair, and he was just a tremendous support. His expertise was valuable to our budget committee this year, and we made a lot of gains with our budget this year, thanks in part, to your your input, and so I thank you for your service. I'm hopeful that we'll replace someone just as valuable as you have been to this commission, and good luck with your future and and you were right, Commissioner, chair, the Commissioner is very involved in our community. He is a pillar of our community, and so I know that he will continue to be, in spite of his very demanding job. He's very he's contributed quite quite extensively. And so thank you, Commissioner, thank you.
Yes, sir, I hear shoot. I got something to say this time that, sir, wish you, Commissioner. You've been solid with the policy and training committee, you displayed a very solid platform. I listened to you over and over, many times. And you just been solid, brother. You've been like a like a protector. You put me in the mind of a protector of this board, you know. And you going on a new journey. Now, God taking you on a new journey. This journey has come to an end. The Lord is taking you on a new journey. So it's time for you to pick up new nuggets and everything your time done expired here, but you made an impact. I give you that you don't say that about anybody made an impact, baby.
Thank you. Yeah. That's fun to say. Yeah.
Zeus, you know, when I first met you, I said, Jesus, Jesus finding us here today, because people just pronounce it as Jesus, as you know, but, but, but you're a great guy. I've enjoyed working with you. I'm glad you're and my first employer now Ford Motor Company. I was their third black lawyer, and now you're there, and that whole tradition of people on this board from Ford has continued. I wish you the best in everything you do, and you've got my number. You I should be on your speed dial in case you need me any time of day or night as Kwame Kilpatrick, our former mayors say, all you have to do is holler. All
right, any further? Any further discussion? There have been no further discussion. All in favor. Say, aye, aye.
Anyone opposed, the motion is carried.
We also, Council President saw fit to honor you today as well, with the Spirit of Detroit award for your great work that you have been doing in this city. And so it reads by the city council in recognition of exceptional achievement, outstanding leadership and dedication to improving the quality of life by the Council of Detroit, Michigan, on behalf of the Detroit City Council President, Mayor Sheffield, I extend my heart field, congratulations on your exemplary service to the city of Detroit. You have left an incredible mark through your steadfast leadership, thoughtful oversight and unwavering commitment to our community as you can complete your term on the board of police commissioners, we thank you for your dedication, integrity and the many ways you are you've uplifted Detroit. May your next chapter be just as impactful as the legacy you leave behind. Give them another hand being recognized by this city and we also have a retired badge for years. Well, you know, come on, give them a hand. This man deserve it. He deserve it.
Have anything say?
I guess I'll stand Yeah,
things down.
I have to do a mic check for Commissioner Bernard to make sure she can hear me. I'm just I'm overwhelmed with gratitude and to everyone here, more than anything. And first and foremost, I have to say, I have to thank God just for the blessings of that he brings every single day, not just to myself, but to our community and to everyone that's here. Thank you to my parents. Thank you to my brothers, one of which is here, my oldest brother. We see funny story. Some of the gentlemen are sitting here are lifelong friends that I have. We support each other through so many different ways, and even Commissioner de Walsh, I think you were mentioning that we always show up when there was the water main break just a couple months ago in southwest Detroit, all these guys picked up the phone as fast as I did to be able to support our community with translation and with anything that We need. And they're always available to do that so big. Thank you to them. We actually have a core group of about 15 of us. Some of them couldn't make it today because they have day jobs, apparently. But two of them actually that I want to call out, David Tinsley right here, and David Segura actually flew in from California and Florida just to be here they could stand. Yeah, go ahead, brother. I don't know that I see is Rico here. I don't see Rico, but he has been many of you know him, probably by his flashy suits that he wears at a lot of different city functions and in the community, he was a big reason why, over five years ago, started to have conversations with commissioners, to Walsh, with community leaders, with Mayor Duggan, ultimately, to be able to get the appointment and join this board. I think I'm a better person because of each of you, especially our community. To the department chief Bettison, you, I think, were the first person outside of Chief Craig that actually met with one on one, and you've just been an inspiration since the very beginning. It was my honor to be able to lead the committee that ultimately searched and found you and kept you here with us. You've done some great work as Deputy Mayor when you were there, and I'm never going to forget. I think what many of us probably know is one of the most iconic moments, right in the middle of demonstrations. George Floyd, there were lots of tensions, and you've always lived a spirit of community engagement, which is why we obviously wanted to bring you back and keep you here, but just the the empathy that that you showed with community and the solidarity that you showed in taking a knee with those demonstrators says a lot about your character as a person, but a lot about the direction that you're taking this department in. So I'm really, really thankful for that. Thankful to obviously Rico for putting me on this path. Commander, Shelly holder. Bomb is behind me somewhere. She probably is the person who got the most amount of calls by me easily, along with a few others. She is phenomenal. Hopefully we can do everything to keep her happy and keep her there. Fourth, selfishly, because her and her team have done a phenomenal job. DC, Sloan, parish, bliss. Stewart AC Ewing is here. I know Hayes is in the back, Assistant Chief, newly appointed assistant chief. Hayes, each of you have, you know, we've had some very tense moments behind the scenes with different items that have come up, but you've always shown up in a very balanced and neutral way that always favors and keeps in mind community. So I always appreciate that to the board and staff, I think some of the acknowledgements were were listed that I was fortunate enough to be a part of the work. Doesn't stop. It obviously continues. And that's not just for those who are here finishing out terms, but for those who might be incoming in January with the new elections to citizens. I think Minister Eric bond, it was very fitting that you give that you gave the blessing today. I'm obviously a member of st Anne Catholic Church in southwest Detroit, right, but right by the Ambassador Bridge, I've received a lot of support from Monsignor. Ca there as well. So shout out to him. But you know, you've brought a level of accountability and passion that has grounded each of us and continues to ground us. I ask that you continue to do that. He's ready. Miss Marie overall. I appreciate you. And in all the ways that you continue to show up for community as well, not just in southwest Detroit, Detroit, but everywhere else. And I think for the most part, that probably is it, I ask that you just keep showing up with purpose. And everything that you do, probably the most exciting thing that we did was increase our budget. I think everyone always wants more money, but we were able to partner with council member Santiago Romero. We're able to partner with, obviously, the budget committee and so many people to try and get the backlog down. And we haven't quite gotten there. I know chief Warfield is doing a phenomenal job in doing that, but the work continues. Show up with purpose. BOARD SECRETARY, I appreciate you more than you know, and thank you everyone. Rico came in flashy suit showed up so, oh, wow. So he's the culprit for those who might not know Him, as to why I'm here. And you know, I have to thank obviously, Rachel and Connie and Miss Shackleford and so many community leaders for everything they've done for me personally as well. So thank you all. I appreciate it. I won't be too far away
my man, my man who
this chair, yes, sir. Now we know that Commissioner Hernandez, and once again, congratulations to you, Commissioner. Well done. Now we know Commissioner Hernandez has received his resolution today. It's bad today, and we got a term coming to an end in six more months. But we got commissioners leaving this board now. Will they get a resolution and will they get honored? Will they get a badge? You know, I'm put you on front screen, right?
Y'all get a helicopter, Doc, you know for
sure. Okay?
The fact of the matter is, is that
this is a thankless job, you know, for commissioners who have sacrificed so much of their time, and they treasure and they talent, you know, is really, is that it's a stack of folders right there. You got to read those through the wee hours of the night, not getting paid a dime for that. You know, you got to get calls from citizens constantly. You have to answer mails and emails from citizens and stuff, not getting paid to die. This is a sacrifice from all of these commissioners up here, and I say, Hey, thank God for you. You know, it's not easy to sit in this seat, you know. And this is I really appreciate you as a citizen of the city of Detroit for all the sacrifices that every commissioner has made of their time and they talent and they treasure. We don't get a gas card, none of that, you know, you got to ride on the east side, west side, go meet with folks and stuff like that. You know. We only get a car. Thank God. I don't want one, you know. But our staff, so my staff members get cars, but we don't get cars, you know. So it's a lot that comes with this. And so I really say, I take my hat off to every commissioner in this room. God bless you all, chief police.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. And I will say, on behalf of the Detroit Police Department, each and every member, we thank the Board of police commissioners. Definitely we recognize the sacrifice that you make, and it has to be a passion and a labor of love. So I just want my DPD folks really quickly to give the police commissioners, and also Commissioner Hernandez, A round of applause really quickly. Thank you, because it's a very, very important job that you do into Commissioner Hernandez, you know, I consider you a friend. You have been, as has been said, solid, you're astute, well read and you know, held, held us accountable as well, and help move the department forward. And so you're gonna, you're gonna definitely be missed. And you know definitely when a person leaves the appropriate word that we use in DPD, when members are trying to transfer and go to a different assignment, and before that, Commander lets them go. They always say, we need a suitable we need a suitable replacement. So Commissioner Hernandez, we are definitely on the Detroit Police Department looking for a suitable replacement for you. So, sir, job well done. Thank you so much. I will start my chief of police report at this particular point in time, just going through our crime categories the usual our homicide numbers were down 10% non fatal shootings down 31% which is significant because we closed the year out in 2024 as we know, with historic low numbers in all categories of violent crime. And so we're beating last year numbers as we continue to trend down, robberies down 15% carjackings down a whopping 24% we've only had this year, and you know, and I don't like having any carjackings or any numbers, but I can tell you that we've had 26 This year, and we're almost halfway through the year total. Part one, crime is down 9% community updates, recruiting, of course, we are blessed. I had an opportunity to do an interview with CNN yesterday, and they wanted to ask about, you know, is the department staffed. A lot of major city police chiefs are having problems finding individuals that want to be police officers. But when you have a community and the community morale is high, the police officer morale is high then and you're doing the things that you need to do, as far as appropriately paying officers, et cetera, you can hire and you can also retain. Yesterday, Wednesday, the Detroit Police Department recruiting unit spoke with potential applicants at the Employee Resource Fair over at the Coleman, a young municipal center. So y'all the Coleman, a young municipal center is open. Idea. The tour is beautiful, and I would encourage everybody to get by there and check it out. It is absolutely gorgeous, and on Saturday, the recruiting unit will be speaking with community members at the Motown roller Club. Pat Powell visited the Detroit Police Department's Training Center yesterday with some students to expose them to how things occur over at our academy, John our community fun day that will occur on Monday, Memorial Day, and that will be from 10am to 3pm the Detroit Police Department's 11th precinct and 12 precincts will be hosting the community fun day at the Dakota inn, and the community is invited out to enjoy free Food, refreshments, muses, giveaways, and it'll be a car show. The kids will also be able to tour Police and Fire Department Vehicles. Today, we celebrated our women in blue yet, 19 women of the Detroit Police Department at our annual Women in blue ceremony, and it was hosted at the MGM Grand Casino Hotel. Congratulations to this year's nominee and our winner, which is police officer Savannah man of the special response team. I'll go into some of the community updates from the precincts. The second precinct continues to focus on community safety and traffic enforcement. For the past week, the second precinct made 49 arrests, complicate confiscated five guns for five tickets for no license plate and impounded two vehicles for no plates. We're really concentrating on vehicles that don't have plates. Oftentimes, individuals will either obscure the plate or remove the plate in order to do something nefarious in our community so that they can't be identified. The third precinct update, officers from the third precinct may 15 felony arrest and issued 128 tickets for traffic stops over the past week. Fourth Precinct update on Thursday, officers were on patrol in the area of Homer and Lawndale when they saw a vehicle speeding and run a red light. Officers conducted a traffic stop on the vehicle. The driver did not have a license and was placed into custody. Officers also recovered a weapon for the vehicle, taking a gun off the street. Officer from the Fourth Precinct made 23 arrests, confiscated eight guns and told two boats over the weekend. So wherever they got those boats from, I know some residents were very, very happy, because if a boat is sitting on the street in front of your house, it ruins your quality of life. And so we're working very, very hard to get those abandoned, blighted vehicles and boats off the street. And I actually did a tour of the two yards that we have, and I can tell you that they're full. So they're doing a phenomenal job. Officers at the fifth precinct made 19 felony arrests and wrote 232 tickets for traffic stops over the weekend, as chief of police made a promise in place to do traffic enforcement. I've heard the community. We get a lot of complaints when it comes to individual speeding, running red lights, etc. The focus is to educate and to slow folks down. And I can continue on and on, but I don't know if you want me to continue through each one of our precincts. But as you can see, our officers are doing some amazing, amazing, amazing work. And I'll just say this with the ninth precinct. Officers from the ninth precinct made 30 felony arrests last week. They wrote 120 tickets from traffic stops over the past week, we will continue our efforts. We're going into the Memorial Day holiday. I wish everybody a great Memorial Day holiday, and it downtown will be extremely busy. We'll have about 150,000 people visiting our downtown and our officers, the DPD is working very hard. We're going to have the neighborhoods covered. We're going to have downtown covered, and we're doing it all. Thank you so much. Okay,
any questions?
Yes, Commissioner,
great report. Chief number one, can we get a copy of those stats that you just that you talked about? I don't think they're in my pack, but even. But in any event, I want to ask you a question, are all those arrests that you talked about, the felony arrest and everything, as a result of the traffic stops?
No, not every arrest is a result of the traffic stop. No, okay,
just, just police doing their job, is what? What you're saying, police doing
their jobs. And next I'll give a report about how many 911, calls our officers. Answer is, the volume is just really amazing, and they're getting there, and so they're doing it all. They're, they're, they're getting there expeditiously answering the police calls for service. And so some of those arrests came as a result of 911, calls. Also, I see
so you sort of enhanced, or what are we being more vigilant now? Because that's I was interested in the arrest that you made per precinct. That's why it's interesting to me. And what's changed, or you're just, you're just reporting it to us. I just
want to make sure that you know when we report out, I report and highlight the work that they're doing. And so the men and women of BPD, they've, they've always been out doing this type of work. And so I just wanted to bring it in, highlighted for the community, to just shine a light on
it. Thank you.
It was reported in the media the the other day concerning an officer allegedly going through a red light and injuring someone. Can Can we make sure that we pull out putting out teletypes and communicating with officers in terms about running red lights and stuff? I see it a lot myself, you know, officers going through lights, you know. And ain't nothing going on, you know, but there's not being patient, you know, and running those lights. And can you brief us as it relates to that particular matter? You know?
I will definitely ensure that we put out a teletype, and we're stressing that to our members that we have to obey the traffic laws as well. And so we have taken a stance and a position that when officers are involved in at fault accidents that we're sending them for retraining, and that, you know, when they're found at fault in an accident that could have been preventable, then they also receive the appropriate discipline also to correct that type of behavior. And with that particular incident, I know it's under investigation. I don't have the particular results, but I will make sure that I do share it with the board. I did get a chance to see the video as well, and so, you know, just looking at the video, until I get the change, I don't want to be the chief that speculates, there you go. But I will, I will ensure that this board is updated post haste as early as probably next week. Thank you very kindly.
Commissioner pressure, Thank
you, Chair, Chief Edison, in that same vein, you know, in the numbers of citizen complaints that I have to review again, I think that the department should be commended that for the most part, you know, they are operating according to policy and procedure, which is why it's disappointing that the sustained cases seems to be things that should be easily avoidable and easily addressed, which is demeanor, which is officers not using appropriate language in addressing citizens, and so getting casual and calling them bro or little bro and things of that nature. That seems like that would be negligible, particularly when it's such a stellar job that officers are doing for the most part, and then we still are seeing incidences where officers aren't activating their body worn camera, if it's not for the duration of time or at all, that are coming up in the CCRS that at least I'm reviewing. And so you know, as you are sharing communication with department around the expectations around them, following traffic laws you know, also reiterating, you know, demeanor and how they refer to citizens, as well as making sure that their body won't care they understand the responsibility around the body worn camera footage, so that those Things aren't being sustained
in through the chair absolutely out. One of the things that we brag about at DPD, that we can celebrate, is being able to hire and retain and when you when we're going to the various precincts we at our last Academy, graduate, graduation, we graduated 39 brand new police officers. Their ages range from, you know, roughly 18 to, you know, up to like 52 but we hire and we have a lot of young people, and with young folks many times, you know, as they mature and we provide that training, they'll get to a certain level where they're not calling folks bro. But I told my daughter, you don't call me bro. She's like, bro. I'm like, I'm your dad, so, you know. And she's 22 and so with our young people, when we hire them, it's a certain level of maturity that comes along with it. The benefit is that we're able to get and retain Detroiters, and we're going to work with them and get them there are people there so and into the body worn camera aspect of it, absolutely, I understand that there will be technical difficulties at time, but that that that should be far and few in between. And so we're going to continue to push that, and we're going to continue to also hold individuals accountable, because we take that from a department standpoint, very, very seriously, because the body worn cameras, as we know they vindicate and it's that independent eye that lets everyone know for the most part, exactly what happens, and that's the first thing that I go to When I'm looking for an investigation to see what happened is that body worn camera. Thank you real quickly.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, we've internally within our policy committee and our staff, we've had a lot of discussions about citizen complaints, and the the issue that we're discussing isn't the actual behavior of officers, it's the fact that, apparently, officers no longer carry the the the OCI brochure telling people that the how they can file a complaint, giving them information. Not only that, there's no information in any precinct, you know, there's a separate brochure on how you file a citizens complaint that you can just hand out to people but but the community doesn't have that. And one of the suggestions that we thought of just this past week was that I know that now in your scout cars, most of the time you print a ticket. Is that correct, that there's a computer and a printer in there. So can you put the information, I mean, in bold letters at the bottom of that teletype I'm calling teletype. I don't know what it is, but anyway, at the bottom of that piece of paper advising people about their right to file a complaint. That's number one, number two. As a result of the consent decree, we were also required to provide people information in the detention center about their ability to file a complaint against an officer may for whatever, you know, whatever they whatever their perspective was, they're not getting that either. So we're falling down on the job that we agreed to do with under the consent decree. And as you know, the most important thing that that we address, of course, are citizen complaints. Can you help us with that? And can you tell us what you think
absolutely I can help with that. In you know, utilizing technology, and as we advance, everybody has a QR code for everything these days, right? And so
on a QR code. People, I don't do QR codes, and a lot of people don't. You are because you don't want the information on your cell phone. Quite frankly, we
think that some people will want to do it, you know, young people, right? We so I'm an and person, and so we can work on doing what you want, and we can work on putting a QR code for technology to give people options where citizens can file a complaint via they can mail it in. They can go into the precinct and make a complaint. They can call it in. It's so many different ways, but I'm definitely for helping educate the community in every way, in method possible. And so I don't have an issue as far as printing out, you know, you get the template. We can work together to get, you know, 1000s of them printed out, and we can put it in our officer Scout cards. We can have it at the front precinct desk. It can be at the DDC. And so that's very simple. You have my commitment to work with you to get it now, I don't believe, or No, I don't think that we can print it out on actual speeding tickets with that, because that's a little piece of paper and a different type of equipment, but we can work through it so that we come up with something that's reasonable. Yeah,
let's, let's do something about it, because right now, we're not in compliance with the consent decree. Well,
thank you. Are going to be in compliance. And just for the record, we're out
of the consent the rules change. There
are policies. We follow our own policies, yeah, and we're
working on that policy right now. Thank you, Commissioner de wash, thank
you, Mr. Chair. So chief, can you, can you explain to me so that I have an understanding of when the body worn camera is supposed to be turned on, and, and, and let me just give you a little bit of information. I just reviewed 20 cases that we have this past week, and there were at least three, and you're going to see my notes of cases that were unfounded or not substantiated, but within those cases, you know, the investigation notes indicate that the body worn camera was not on, or it was not turned out. And I'm just I thought that this was something that any time you had contact with someone, you know, a community member, you had to turn it on. Is that not the case? Or why do we have officers that are not turning it on? And how do you know if officers are, how do you get informed that they're not being turned on, and what is the disciplinary action for that action, for that activity?
I'm going to have some of my team members tap in as well, but I'll start out with police contact and citizen engagement, then the expectation is that the body worn camera would be on when you're engaged and you're going to take police action. It could be examples where members are sitting in this room and they don't have their body worn cameras on. And so there are some cases where a contact a citizen, engages, just access some, you know, some, some random questions, or things of that nature, where the body worn camera may not be on. I've had some community members say, Well, shouldn't it be on all the time? No, that's not reasonable. Because when the officers are on lunch break, or they're not engaged, or they're taking a restroom break, or they're eating lunch, things of that nature. They're not going to have the body worn cameras on. You may also get situations where it could be a detective, per se, they're not in a patrol function, and they wouldn't have their body worn cameras. They're not walking around with body worn cameras. However, it could come to a situation where a citizen did make a complaint there, and your investigator would look for body worn camera footage, and it wouldn't be there's other situations where our officers work undercover capacities, and it could be a citizen complaint against one of them, and they would not have body worn cameras. So those are some instances that I could think of when it comes to disciplinary it's looked at as the disciplinary matrix. You know, is this a first offense? Is it a second offense? Is it a third offense and repeat offenses for the same type of infraction, the penalty escalates. And so right now, I see Deputy Chief Parrish, and he's going to chime in as anything that I may have missed. No
chief, you pretty much caught everything, as the board's aware. We have a list of activities that requires the activation of the body worn camera. If I could sum it up to this, it's any citizen encounter in furtherance of a law enforcement activity, okay, any citizen encounter that's in furtherance of a law enforcement activity. So if I'm going to a police run, I'm in furtherance of a law enforcement activity, my camera has to go on because I'm going to be interacting with citizens at that run. If I'm going into a restaurant to eat lunch, and somebody says hello, and I say hello back. That's a citizen contact, but it's not in furtherance of a law enforcement activity. The camera would not have to be activated at that time. Okay? We would also require the cameras be activated if people are engaged actively at a scene, whether they're in at that moment in time, engaged in this with a citizen or not, because they're still performing law enforcement work, and we would want that to be recorded. So that would include police runs. That would include response by by investigators to an active scene, things of that sort. And Chief, you articulated the disciplinary policy of progressive discipline very well. So
just to follow up on that as well, just ignore the dairy
just because I didn't get the answer for one. So I would assume that if an officer is in a car and they get a call and they they repeat to notification, notification control that they're going to answer that call, wouldn't the body cam Camera Camera be turned on at that point. Absolutely, okay, okay, I guess that's that. I'm sorry I just don't do it that absolutely, thank you.
And then my follow up to that is that, and then then that it is communicated and understood, that that's the responsibility for all officers on the scene, and not like relying upon their partner that has the body wall camera on, and so they don't have to have theirs on as well.
That's every officer engaged in the activity that requires the activation of the camera, because
that's some of the things that I'm seeing that they're relying upon their fellow officer having their camera on and theirs is not so reiterating that,
though, Mr. Chair, just one more question that wasn't answered. So how do you get informed that officers are not turning their cameras on? We
have random audits, and so within the precincts, the sergeants have to do video reviews, and so they randomly do that. And how many do they do per day? I
can't speak to the commands, but I know the Civil Rights Division is constantly auditing body worn camera compliance. We had a meeting with Chief Investigator not long ago to make sure that our numbers, at least, did not conflict with OCI numbers. And Dr Martin gave a presentation. I want to say he the last sample that he worked with was, I don't want to be quoted on this number, but it was in the 1000s that they had looked at.
3600 Oh, thank you.
So no, they, they, uh, audit a lot of camera footage, uh, for compliance with our BWC, yeah.
And we comp stat it too. So with our, Tom said, accountability of our command officers going through there, we actually have a quality control mechanism where individuals are held accountable for that. And so it's a, it's a constant quality control mechanism in place, and when it's identified with the deficiencies, we address it,
and we also keep track of those numbers in each of our cases. So I'm not sure if maybe we have to coordinate those numbers with your office. Yep,
and that was the meeting with
chief investigator and Deputy Chief to be able to go over that, because it's vitally important to us that that we see a reduction in these findings in our reports, you know, because it is a significant amount that don't turn on a body worn cameras. You know, Deputy Chief, you wanted to chime in
through the Chair, just a point of clarification on question. Commissioner asked about when the cameras actually are activated. So the cameras are not necessarily activated when the officers acknowledge a run, they're not activated until they make contact in their own scene. And again, it's nuances to that if they're doing a pursuit, the cameras automatically come on. It's a number of triggers that are automatically set with the cameras that allow the cameras automatic initiation, and I think we talked about that a little bit so but they don't always go on because sometimes the officers acknowledge a run when they're in the station, and again, at least to what the chief was saying they could be in a bathroom or something else prior to being around. So just want to make sure that point of clarification,
thank you. Just one.
One final point, the the command staff is never required to have on a body worn camera or the whoever who is required, just patrol officers, not lieutenants, not commanders, not, of course, you guys was required to wear a body worn camera and keep, I mean, have it on
Commissioner. During our last major event, I was in the field, I had a body worn camera on and then running, you wore one. I was a commander. Then, yes, yes, I understand,
but it's not required.
Typically, our commanders are not going to have, I mean, he's an exception, right there, sir, I don't want him. I don't want right it seemed like our commanders are walking around with body worn cameras. I don't have a body worn camera, but I'm not. Typically out there. I will make an arrest if I have to. And, you know, I'll, I'll take police action as well, but that's not typically my function, if you would like so rigorous training I did. I went through some various rigorous training I had, but
lieutenants aren't right or who at what level do you stop having a body worn camera, I
wouldn't say necessarily a hard stop, but if you're going to be out there engaged in the furtherance of making arrests, and that's going to be your function, and you're part of a task force, and you're out there leading, then the lieutenant should have on a body worn camera if they're going to be functioning as a police officer or sergeant, or it's something major going on where you know that you're going to have that type of interaction. So say, for example, if we had a protest, and like, have a lieutenant out there on the field, and the probability that they're going to have to give orders and commands, and, you know, be directing our officers to take some type of police action, then that Lieutenant should have on a body worn camera all. The sergeant should have one body worn cameras as well. And you know, looking back in situations like that, they did. And let me
say this, Thank you, Deputy Chief,
finally, finally,
the I've read several disturbing cases as relates to raids that happened at the wrong house, and in one situation I read where the door was kicked down and wasn't replaced immediately, there should be a mechanism in place if we made that type of serious mistake and went to the wrong house that citizen deserved to have their door put up there a immediately, you know, and I was deeply disturbed reading that said, wow, have to why I have to read a citizen complaint where somebody home was raised by mistake, wrong house, not the right address, they didn't do anything, and
they don't get a door back on their house.
Commissioner, I will say, in the spirit of continuous improvement, I can definitely understand what that's a reasonable request that you're making, and I could understand and would say that if I were that citizen and that happened to me, I would expect within a reasonable amount of time, very quickly, probably within 24 hours, that my door was replaced, and so we can work towards figuring out how to address that. But since I've been on the Detroit Police Department, and I've got 30 plus years, it has been as is, and so that's an area where we can work together to come up with a mechanism. And so that'll be a city response. And then also, sorry, I need a little water, but that'll be a city response, and also coming up with a line item in the budget so that I have funding to be able to call somebody out in you don't have to end up being a contract established to call somebody out to be able to address those type of things, because that is reasonable.
Yeah. Thank you very kindly.
Yes. Yes, sir. Question for the Chief
Chief from last year 2024
until now, to year to date. Can you provide the board at a later time, the number of lawsuits against the department and total payouts, in addition to it's been raised at this table several times by Commissioner Bernard myself and also members of the community. In addition to body worn cameras. What will be helpful for our OCI staff and investigators, if we had officers probably wearing body worn cameras more so like shoulder mount, because of whatever when the officer turns their head toward direction, it allows our investigators or our staff to see What the officers see. Sometimes when they wearing their body worn camera, I guess on the torso area, we don't always see what the officers see. And I believe one of our investigator staff can speak to that, as well as our chief investigator, Jerome Warfield, but I like to know what is city, Detroit. The department will be looking to go with more mounted cameras, shoulder mount cameras in the future, Commissioner
Burton through the chair. Um, you know that right there. I'll have to do, you know, research into it. And you know, definitely want to know more what you know. So I'm not really aware of the shoulder mount camera that you spoke to, but you know, if that's going to be the new wave in, in what's going to put the field of view at the most, and that, you know, optimal, um position, to be able to capture what the officer is seeing, then that's reasonable as well. So thank you for bringing that up. I'll have my research team look into that and be able to report back to you. And in regards to your when you started out with the lawsuits and the number and the payout, I should be able to obtain that information from Corporate Council, because the city of Detroit, Corporation Council has all of that information, so I'll make a request from Corp council to get that for the board.
Thank you. Thank
you. Public comment. Let's finish.
Thank you. Mr. Chair, thank you. We'll start off with Minister Eric blunt, then Miss Padilla, Butler,
Commissioner Hernandez, you're leaving here, but truth and justice will always be a heavy weight that you are demanded to carry the rest of your life. One of the disturbing things I saw you do in this meeting is to accept a fake law enforcement badge. There's no reason for any of you police commissioners to have a fake law enforcement badge. If you don't think this is serious, just recall, a few years ago, while you were here on this board, the chairperson of the board of police commissioners got caught with a prostitution with a prostitute, and the first thing he did was whip out his fake law enforcement badge and say, Hey, can't we work something out here? This is serious. So each one of you that has, and I believe all of you have been issued one turn them in. There's no reason for it. It is only a corrupt procedure that can only lead to devastation
for one
and begging everyone to take videos of police officer interaction with the public. This Police Department in this city has refused to release body worn camera footage easily, even for the people that are involved in one just this week, saw an older woman being pulled over by a police officer, so I rolled down my window, and before he could get to her driver's side window, she's yelling, what did I do wrong? This is the type of terror and oppression this police department has over the citizens of this city. So it doesn't matter how many rubber chicken dinners you give to elderly or the candy you give out at Halloween
Thank you, Reverend,
that was two minutes. Are you kidding me?
No, no, sir,
next week, God willing and the creek don't rise. Mr. Chairman, yes.
Could we speak to the fake badges?
We have authorized badge by the Board of Public Commissioner. Those badges, I don't know anything. I don't want the public assume that we carrying those type of no
such thing. It says police. It says police commissioner, and it's like it's a prosecutor and all other type of stuff in there, different judges, all kind of stuff. But the I'm not about to answer that you want to answer. You can answer that, you know. Keep it moving. There you go.
Excuse me, good afternoon. Yeah, commissioners, I know you are the oversight board of the police, and you listen to the concerns of the communities and also pose questions and make statements to the chief or others who represent the chief. I am sorry and embarrassed when Mr. Blount, who is a minister and states the name of his church yells and call you despicable names. Commissioner Cortez Presley has asked Mr. Block several times to stop calling. Stop the name calling. I have asked Mr. Blount several times what is he doing in his community that could help all of us? And as of today, I haven't received an answer. Mr. Block, you are sending the chair please message to our youth. All of us are role models at a time like this. We need to work together to educate our youth regarding their behavior. Commissioner Bernard, thanks for correcting, Mr. Block when you quoted the law. You are a lawyer, and whatever information given from this body could possibly be used by others. We need to be careful of what we say and respect others opinions. Mr. Block, please Stop disrespecting yourself and others. Our children are listening, watching. Thank you.
Thank you very much. Next speaker, Miss
Williams, and then we'll go into zoom.
Hello. Can anyone hear me through the Chair? Yes, the numbers are great, Chief. But my question is, and I said this on several different occasions, I want to make it very clear, um, it's like going into not all, but when you do recruiting from the shelters, to me, it's like going back to the 80s, going into the crack house. You never know what you gonna get different, and people always want to mention mental illness. So when you doing recruiting in shelters, the numbers are fantastic. And then, like you said, they start off at 18. I ride the busses with these officers. They mental capacity is not there. Like you said, you're working on it, but it's a split second, 20 seconds can cause their life. I see how they behave on the busses. These officers have guns and badges, but you like you said, the numbers are great, but are they mentally ready to be officers? Okay, I've been stating this for a long time about officers and they want to play like they guy, these new officers that you guys are recruiting. They're and they attitudes, they dispositions. We all human, and like you said, we want to treat it the way I was raised. My parents used to tell me a hard head, make a soft behind you. Give your children life lessons, you know, integrity, character, honesty. And I come, I've been coming to these meetings for over two years, and I'm very disappointed, and I'm not calling any names, but the truth will come out eventually. So at the end of the day, everybody have a job to do accordingly to the laws and by laws. You guys up here, the chief board of commission, it's just not acceptable when people that stay in shelters, well, people that try to get in shelters are unable to because police officers aren't taking up being spaces. Thank you. Thank
you. Next speaker. Our next speaker will be Miss Denise Boyce Hardison, and then Mr. I see Mr. Uh CAC, Scotty Bowman has walked in, so we'll have him after that, and then we'll go into zoom, sir. All right. Thank you.
Good morning. Good afternoon. Commission. Good afternoon. Can you speak in the mic please? Can you hear me? Yes, and my
name is Denise Boyce Hardison, and I'm president of Bobby's TCB towing service. I'm here today to respectfully speak to what I believe to be wrong for termination from the Detroit Police towing rotation, which occurred may 15. The termination was based on single a single toe requested made directly by Officer Scott on November the 25th 2024 who informed me that the dispatch system was down in good faith with over 25 years of trusted service to the city, we responded to the car upon arrival, we were met by Officer walls, key badge number 4084, who provided my driver with an official impound card and control number because of this call, did not go through the official dispatch system. My response is being seen as a breach of towing protocol. However, I did not act independently. I responded to an officer's directive believing it was being authorized by I mean being believing it to be authorized and appropriate. Excuse me, I'm very nervous, so okay, if I am being held accountable for this. I asked why there is no accountability for the officer who initiated the toe outside of proper channels. I did not under demand. I mean, undermine the system. I followed the instructions of a uniform officer who claimed the system was down. Had Known? Had I known otherwise, I would have never accepted the toe. I have never been accused of wrongdoing before. My reputation has been built on integrity, professionalism and dedication to the city of Detroit based on misleading information, this should have never erased the legacy of service, nor cost me my livelihood, or those employees who have been dedicated to my company. I respect, respectfully ask for the opportunity to reinstate the police towing rotation for this matter to be reviewed thoroughly with full context and fairness. I also have two questions, if an officer is not allowed to call companies directly, why did Officer Scott call my company? Two if this wasn't an official call, why was I able to why was he able to provide the control numbers at the time of request? Not only that, I have the recording of the phone call when he called my office, who stated that the system was down and on the day that I was terminated from the city's rotation list, at another officer, which called in stated she was officer. I mean,
okay, your two minutes is up, ma'am, but we want to be able to see how that need to be addressed. I'm not sure how. Yeah, you have it. Okay, we can't take it. You could take it so far as from the from the complaint aspect of things, but Chief, I don't know if it's someone that she can talk to to try to appeal the decision or how that situation work. We're not necessarily in the tow business. We have a tow committee, but we have a limited engagement in that process. And so Chief, do you know how that can be?
Deputy Chief Stewart will get look into it. Or you know, if you have anything to say? DC Stewart,
just for a matter of clarity, through the board, the office, City of Choice, Office of contracts and procurement, canceled the contract. There may be an appeal process. You can reach out to that office, and they should be able to assist you with that. I
Okay, we'll see if we can get your name to someone.
Okay, and then, in the meantime, our investigator fires for if you have a complaint against the police department, or any police officer investigating would take your complaint right back there. Okay, thank you, yes, Commissioner Presley and then Commissioner Burton. This question is for
a chief medicine hearing. What she shared, though, what is that a violation of policy? Is it expected that DPD, if the system is down, would call Yes,
I have to really look into it. And so with towing, and in with that, I just need to verify. And so we'll I'm going to look into it thoroughly. But with towing, this always can be complicated, and so I just want to make sure that even before I speak on it, but we are going to thoroughly look into it, and just when it comes to the officer, if the officer did violate policy, the officer will be held accountable for that. And so I did hear her complaint, but Tony and I just want to be very careful as far as what I say and how I respond to it, sir, through
the chair, there was an investigation completed.
As I stated earlier, the Office of contract computermen elected to cancel the contract officers are not allowed to call tow companies. Direct tow companies are aware of this, and as well, there is also discipline for the officers for calling. Okay, all right,
we definitely want to be updated on that aspect of things, and then nobody want to go to jail either. You know, I'm saying there's some questionable stuff there, you know, I'm glad I ain't got to mess with no phone. And I wouldn't, yes sir,
do the chair. Question for the chief. Um,
since the city Detroit entered a towing business, do we have a list of how many toes that the city Detroit has participated in since they received tow trucks?
Um through the chair, Commissioner burden, I'm sure we do. So, you know, we keep track of that type of information, and so
can you provide that to the board as well? You'll provide
the board everything we have. Thank you, sir. Thank you,
Chief. Thank you. Commissioner,
Chairman, yes. Can I weigh in on this issue? I just looking at a special order in reference to Officer not be calling. But why should a business of established in city, Detroit, towing for quite some time be penalized because of also action, just like that. It should not be, just for business and therefore investigation. I don't understand it. So we need to act quickly, because you put them out of business in terms of toying with city, Detroit. DPD,
absolutely. I'll share that sentiment with you, that whatever investigation need to be done expeditiously, and if there's something, the gap can be bridged some type of way. I'm not an expert. I don't know nothing about none of that. You know. You just want the right thing to happen. You know,
one final point, Chief, I know that you have a very close relationship, obviously, with city council. I think that from a city standpoint, city council needs to enact ordinances that also track what's happening with private tours in Detroit. What happened to Chairman woods when he his car was told? $550 total, 850 I mean, just what happens to other people like that? I mean other people. It's a problem in Detroit, and it's something that that could provoke, obviously, violence on the part of the citizen or the tow company. We've got to get this under control. It's outrageous that this happens to people, and that you know this sort of abuse of authority of the license is happening. So if you could, because you know a lot about it, and so they will certainly listen to you on this issue. So please.
Yes, ma'am, thank you.
Thank you very kindly. You very smart. Chief.
Any
other comments? Yes, sir,
hi. First of all, I'm glad to be here face to face. I don't get to do that very often, but on the way here, I did overhear the conversation. Just an FYI. I don't know if someone just said it inadvertently, without thinking, but I heard someone refer to somebody as Deputy Chief. And I'm thinking, Who would that be? And someone used to be deputy chief is not. He is Chief. So I think that obviously may be understandable if you used to interact in this similar context with him when he was deputy chief. But Mr. Pettison is, in fact, the chief. And I think everyone here knows that. But okay, just to get that
out, collective amnesia, man,
yeah, it was Oh, okay. I'm thinking someone who said it had selective amnesia. But
go ahead, finish. I'll give you 10 extra seconds.
Okay, so, yeah, I am glad to hear some emphasis in the conversation on Investigation of complaints, and I believe I heard Commissioner Bernard mentioned that as one of the most important duties here, and it's important to remember that, and I'm hoping that Mr. Warfield and his office of the Chief Investigator are getting the resources they need to get caught up on those investigations. I remind you that when there are opportunities such as when there's discussion of budget putting one together, that really two big expenditures come into play in both of them being personnel, and that is having sufficient officers and having sufficient investigators. I think those are two things that we don't get so top heavy that we forget about all the people we need to actually do the hands on work and redundancy in that area. So I'm, I think, um, many of you are aware of that, but in case you know, it falls after Raider. I remember the public here at the moment here to remind you so anyway, having a wonderful day. Thank you.
Thank you very kindly. Our next two speakers will be Miss Ladell and David Tinsley. Please state your name for the record.
Hello. My name is Sharice the Sean Liddell, and this my first time here. So I'm not sure how this works, but I'm a citizen. I was pulled over by the Detroit Police Department, fish precinct, march 24 since then, I've been arrested three more times, locked in Wayne County jail twice, and I've been involuntarily admitted into a mental hospital, a psychiatric hospital, I have a letter saying my investigation is closed from Reverend Warfield, and they completely destroyed my driver's record. They added all kind of counts to my name, put a frost false warrant out for my arrest, and so I have multiple officers involved. This does not seem like something that was a normal traffic stop. We have Joseph Boyer. We have lawyers, seven prosecutors. I've had six attorneys. I got three investigator numbers with the chief officer, investigator internal affairs, and nobody seems to want to investigate my case. And the officer gave me eight breathalyzer tests, which are on camera. I had a beauty supply Taser that cost $10 which came up missing during the body cam, and then someone put it back in my purse at the detention center and almost lost my home. I just bought my house. I've been at Chrysler for 11 years. They continue to lock me in jail, so I missed out on a lot of money, and I'm just curious why no one will investigate.
Chief Investigator,
is it an appeal process? Far as if the if the citizen is not satisfied with the findings of their citizen complaint
through the chair, you're correct. There is a an appeal process. And one of our investigators did communicate that to miss Liddell. I spoke with Miss Liddell earlier today. We have a total of three cases in our office. One case have been closed, the other two cases are still open and they're still under investigation.
Okay, that's our answer. Okay.
Well, how could it be closed? If he said the letter states I had a probable cause conference, I never did. I have the attorney writing a letter saying that was skipped
through the chair. That is not a finding that we have as relates to our the findings that we give out that letter as relates to probable cause did not come from us. Yeah, we don't handle criminal matters. We deal with citizen complaints. But if there's, can you give her a call, and if there's anything that obviously can be done and she can understand the appeal process better. You know, you know, these complaints are signed on off by commissioners that review them. You do have a right to appeal the decision. I don't know the timeframe, but he was explaining everything. He will give you a call and but we, at this point, we stand, stand by what our office has done thus far. And if there's anything else that you could bring to the attention through the appeal process, we would be happy to look at anything. So thank you. Have a nice one. He'll get with you. All right, next speaker.
Good afternoon, guys, how you doing? My name is David Tinsley. I represent azul hospitality. We manage five hotels in downtown Detroit, as Jesus mentioned. I just want to say I did come in from California. One to celebrate, hey, zoos, for being a phenomenal partner for us in the hotels that we have in Detroit. But two to tell you guys, I've been in California. I've been in Portland. I've been in Denver and San Francisco in the past two months. And everyone's asking, How does Detroit do so well post COVID? And it's the people around this table, and it's the Detroit Police. You look at these other cities around the country, they have almost deteriorated because of their response with George Floyd COVID, but this police commission and this Detroit Police Department should be commended because we are getting folks like me being called in from Detroit, and I'm a guy from joy Road in saukville, and they're asking, how are you guys doing it? And it's because of the work from Jesus, this board and this, this police department. You guys are phenomenal. You've done well. Celebrate yourself. Take a little time for some positivity. I think you deserve any badge that you get. You guys are phenomenal. And I'm just grateful to tell people I'm from Detroit, and it has been a badge and honor you guys, thank you
appreciate it. Thank you so much. Sound like you should be on the radio.
Next speaker, Lieutenant Mark young, and then we'll go on to zoom. Thank you,
Commissioner Presley, congratulations. I have respect for you. I found you to be very reasonable at the times that you weren't at the table. I really regret that you wasn't here, because often you were the most reasonable of the party. So I have great respect for you. It's easy to criticize, it's easy to bash, it's easy to criticize the Detroit Police Department, but apparently, we don't listen to well passionately before this board race drives crime reductions, giving victims justice. Yeah, on occasion it might be allegations of wrongdoing, yes, and maybe on occasion, they have been wrongdoing. I just left Police Week and they praised our department across this nation,
sitting here today,
are you? Here? Was negativity?
That's what the men and women that I represent here. Crime does not occur by itself. If my men and women stood down for 24 hours,
what would we be?
We say things without thinking.
Sometimes the men and women of the Department may not activate them cameras, because things happen so quick. That's what happens when we vilify the police to the degree that we don't vilify and hold people accountable, that we arrest. Shame on us. I never stood before you and told you who my name was, what my title was, because it's not about me. It's about these men and women that go out here for the ultimate sacrifice. Think about that for a minute.
Well, let me I have to push, I have to push back on that in the sense that absolutely, unequivocally in the sense that we, we this Commission approve a $450 million budget to make sure that the Detroit Police Department get all the tools that they need on we are very, very judicious in terms of how we
even do suspensions without pay,
the chiefs don't win them all. We're not a rubber stamp agency. We're not a tap dancing board. You know, we call balls and strikes and we do it with integrity. Absolutely, I tell folks in the community all day long that we're not a police hate board. We're police oversight board. And so there's checks and balances there. And so when I heard Commissioner Presley talk about the body, body worn, camera, foot, he said, For the you know, they're the overwhelm majority are doing the right things, you know. And so we'll be very, very negligent and not addressing those situations that that do occur, you know, so that we can get it corrected for the citizens of the city of Detroit. And I think that we need to respect each other roles and understand that we're not here to staff anything for anyone. Thank you. Next speaker,
Mr. Chair, we're going to go into zoom now, and our first speaker is Mr. Rue after mister rule is former Commissioner William Davis
that that name said mister rule, aka mister real now to the residents, citizens and taxpayers of the city of Detroit, Detroit, according to my investigation now, is corrupt entity being run by corrupt individuals that's on the city council, board of police commissioners, school board and some judges. Absentee ballot fraud was committed in 2021 in previous years, 2021, 2022 2020, and 2024, Mary Elaine Beckman does not have a valid, legitimate absentee ballot over at the Detroit Department of Elections. Now I want to send a big shout out to you, chief Patterson. Chief medicine is some issues, and I've, you know, been trying to reach out to you. Yesterday, seven police officers arrived at my veterans housing facility over at 19, 327, West Chicago, across the street from st Suzanne's church, Archdiocese of Detroit, affiliated. They arrived, and they were asking where people living there. But according to the court order, we don't have a certificate of occupancy. It's been held up by the city of Detroit. It's on in room 434, and James Foster's desk. He needs to send it down the hallway so I can get the certificate of occupancy proceed with my plans over there. And then we got the issue of what's going on with this seven and a half to 10 minute period that Charmaine McLeod was supposed to receive information regarding Kenisha Coleman, but there is no evidence of a phone call or a text going to that phone, her phone.
Thank you. Next speaker.
Good afternoon. Can I be heard?
Sir? Yes, sir. Okay. I wanted
to start off by saying I am pleased and pleased to see that, that, you know, like I said, that the commissioner is getting, you know, clerk praise and getting the badge. You know, of course, myself, I was a police commissioner and Daryl. Daryl Brown was a police commissioner too. It looks like, I don't know if this is true, but it looks like only appointees are getting badges. You know, retiring badge, if that's so, that opens up a whole new possible realm of investigations. But I hope that's not so also. I think a greater effort needs to be made to make sure that the Detroit Police Department and the board of police commissioners are not putting any black businesses out of business in this city. We need to make sure that everybody is doing everything the way they should be doing. But if it's the police department is doing something that's putting a black business out of
being able to operate, that's a problem.
I also I hope that some of the board members will start having better attendance. You know, like, say, during the time I was on the board. I was on the board for four years. I never missed a meeting. I was never late. You know, we need to make sure if you make a commitment to do something, I know there's not a salary, I know there's a small stipend that you receive, but if you make a commitment, you want to live up to a commitment. Hopefully y'all live up to a commitment to doing better for all, not just for appointees. Thank you.
Thank you very kindly. Our next speaker was will be Miss Brown, and our last speaker is Public Viewer, TN,
Miss Brown, you can be heard.
Just, just let me try again, sir. Okay, can you all hear me? Yes,
ma'am, we can
hear you. Yes. Thank you. I wanted to ask a question to the chief, is there a protocol for addresses that get a lot of police calls, especially when they're businesses? There are certain businesses I FOIL a lot of documents. I read a lot of documents. There are certain businesses that get a lot of 911, calls and have a lot of police presence, and it almost feels like they shouldn't specifically homeless shelters. And when Miss will, when Miss Williams spoke, it reminded me of that I have been meaning to ask it previously. There are homeless shelters in the city that are getting an awful lot of 911 calls. 911 calls against the people in the shelter. 911 calls against the staff. I think there was one that I read that somebody had to be arrested. And I remember I managed, I took over a property on Jefferson that had a lot of 911 calls. And I know back in 2014 that was a problem. Is that something, and I know that you're new, is that something that the police are still keeping track of? The other thing I wanted to say is, I wanted to uplift what Minister Blount said. I definitely appreciate you pointing out that these badges should not be being given out willy nilly. Um, yeah, that that could be a problem in the future. And I'm not saying that Mr. Hernandez, or I'm sorry, Commissioner Hernandez will do anything nefarious with it, but we have seen people try it. The other question I wanted to ask is, is Commissioner Hernandez leaving today? And if he is, who will be replacing him, and how soon will they be replacing him? The other thing I wanted to point out is, Minister Blount actually does do a lot in the community, and yes, he does complain, but this is an oversight board, and somebody should be complaining, because we do a lot of celebrating and hand clapping and cheering in here, and sometimes people need to be held accountable. Minister Brown has come out to protest. He has come out to meetings when we are speaking to evicted people. He has helped write and FOIA documents for the CPTA, and he does a lot in this community, and we appreciate it. Thank you, and that's my time. Thank
you. Next speaker,
they lowered their hands, sir. So all right, thank
you, Jesus. We're going to go to the presentation to the board DPD budget presentation.
You may be hurt. Good afternoon, Mr. Chair. I'm here to present the quarterly report, budget report on behalf of DPD is someone going to move the slides or answer the reports that are presented before you today are for the month ending March, 31 2025 and the reports are the quarter Three year to date, budget versus actual expenditure and expenses, the revenue is an expense rather. Year to date, budget versus actual revenues and expenses, vehicle purchase report, capital expenditure report and grant activity report, slide three, please. As you can see from this slide, the columns are as follows. The first column shows that the expected revenues for the third quarter ending March, 31, 2025, the next column is the actual amounts, and then variance in dollar amounts and the variance in percentage as you can see on the slide, the general fund revenue, the budget amount was almost rounded up $63 million and we brought in the actual amount, $60.1 million
The $2.7 million
variance is mainly due to the utility users tax, which is part of the police department's revenue budget, came a little bit less than what we had budgeted for
the forfeiture fund. We budgeted $906,000
and the actual was $625,000
the grant revenues $6.6 million budget, versus the $3.4 million actual and the special revenue fund, which combines both the 911 fund and the towing fund, the budget is approximately $7 million and We brought in $8.2 million
on the expenditure front,
the expenditures for the nine months ending on March 31 were supposed to be $301 million total general fund expenditures, and the actual expenditures were $294 million for a positive variance of $7 million for future fund we budgeted to spend $927,000 to date, we had spent as much the reverse again, $620,000 grant expenditures. We budgeted to spend 16.9 and we actually that's, that's a mistake. Should be 6.9 and we have spent only 4.1 special revenue fund, again, towing fund, plus the 911 fund, we budgeted to spend $11 million and to date, we had spent $7.5 million the amount that you see here, the actual amounts, Most of them are due to timing differences, because not all expenditures are uniform throughout the year. Some expenditures come in the last quarter of the year versus the beginning of the year. We expect that fully that by the end of the fiscal year, the budget amounts will be spent almost entirely. Next slide, please This slide shows the breakdown between the major source of revenue and they are municipal income tax we budget, or the actual amount, rather, was $25.8 million for the whole year, we expect to bring in $36 million on income tax revenue, the percentage to for the nine months was 70.9% so 71% it should be approximately 75% but as I indicated earlier, there is a timing difference that, for example, income tax revenue comes heavy in the month of April, which is not presented In this report. Utility users tax. We brought in 25 $26 million we expect to get $43 million so that is going to be probably the source of revenue that we're not going to meet the budget goal. Other revenues, we brought in $8.3 million at the end of the year, we expect to bring $30 million and that's something that we are going to we are confident that we're going to meet that revenue projection. Then the following line items here are the breakdown of the slide that I showed earlier. However, earlier was the total amount, and now I'm breaking it down between the salaries and way among salaries and wages, employee benefits, professional contractual, operating supplies, operating services, capital equipment and other expenses. So the $301 million that you see there as the actual amount is exactly the same amount on the previous slide. However, the entire budget for the for the full year is $424.4 million so we are sitting today, or at the end of March, at 71% which is very close to the nine out of nine months out of 12. Next slide, please. This slide is for information, detailed information for the board, basically the amounts that I presented in slide number four. So this is slide number five. This has more details as to what are the major source of revenue, revenues and expenses, and what goes, for example, into sales for charges and services, license, permits and inspection charges, fines, forfeiters and other revenues. Next slide, please slide six. This slide represents detailed information about the expenditures, such as salaries and wages, employee benefits and whole slew of items that go under the employee employee benefits and professional contractual services that there are four sub categories that go under that slide. Next slide, please, this slide. Slide number seven still continues with the operating expenditures, operating services, capital equipment and other expenses such as training and contributions.
Slide eight.
Slide eight represents the vehicle purchase report that shows that we did not purchase anything during the month of January, 2025, and we purchased 80 vehicles in February and 19 vehicles in the month of March, for a total of 99 vehicle purchases.
Next slide please.
This slide shows the repair maintenance and capital improvements, depending on the amount, and they are broken down by location. For example, you see there the DVD out of pound, civil rights forfeiture, gaming, gun range, Harbor Master, impound yard and so on, so forth. So the amounts are not large amounts, but for the total
for the for the entire quarter, we spent $100,469
for the three months, again, in all the precincts and all the DPD operated location.
Next slide please.
One more Yes. Thank you. This slide shows the active grants for the month or for the quarter ending March 31 we did not start any new grants for the third quarter, fiscal year, 2025 however, we have active grants that are listed here, such as Project safe neighborhoods, VOCA grant, burn state Crisis Intervention Program burn criminal justice intervention. ATPA M calls ceasefire, earmark and the stop grant. The total amounts for each grant are listed on the right hand of the right side of the slide. And pending any questions, that concludes my presentation, Mr.
Chair, yes. Ma'am, I have several Yes. Um, as on page three, your first slide that you showed the budget and the actual I'm trying to understand, like, are these line items that you've selected in the revenue section to talk about, because the revenues total, let's say, in the budget, 77 point 5 million, but the expenditures are 330 point 3 million. How do you reconcile that? I mean, didn't the revenues be more than the expenditures
through the Chair? Yes, that is a great question. And normally in in the for the entire city, yes, the revenues should be more, or at least equal to the expenditures. Otherwise we have a problem in the police department works slightly different. Police Department is not a revenue making or generating department, per se to support 100% of its operations the other revenues we collect, therefore, we usually collect approximately $90 million between those three major categories that I showed, and the rest of the police budget is funded by General Fund, is given from the city. So whatever we don't bring in the gap, which is a large gap, close to three, $50 million that comes from the city's general fund budget, okay?
So that'll always be covered, no matter whether expenditures are significantly higher than through
the revenues through the chair. Absolutely, yes. That has been the case at least 50 years prior, and that will be the case for the foreseeable future, because, again, police department does not bring enough revenue, but it is supported by the general fund.
And I think I've asked you this couple of times, because we have met, you know, with our our budget, yes, with you frequently. So thank you for explaining that. Again. On page seven, we indicate that our budget? Well, the amount the budget is 420 point 4 million, correct for the department. Our actual year to date is 294 point 3 million. So are we on target as far as our expenditures or our budget? Are we on target? We're 75%
are we 75% of the year? Yes, as
a matter of fact, we are a little bit below 75% again, through the chair. However, the budget you see, $424 million is for the entire year, right? The one you the column, you're asking there, is the actual amount for nine months, nine months, and that's 12 months versus nine months. But we're on target. We are on target. We are very much on target. Okay.
Thank you so much. And on page eight,
on the vehicle report, we have a total of 99
that we've purchased. That's as of March 2025, correct, correct. What does our budget allow for for the whole year?
This report is brought to you as a courtesy that I've been bringing to you every quarter every year. However, the vehicle purchases are not part of our main operating budget. At $424 million this is part of the is centralized, the fleet budget that does not go to our through our main budget. Basically, I get this report from another department, from came back building. I present that to you, however, the bills for these vehicles are not paid to us.
Okay, are they paid through the city? Absolutely, yes, but through
another department because centralized the vehicle purchasing through the city's main department. Okay,
thank you. And then on page nine, there are certain columns that have $1 what does that mean? $1 like DPD gaming for February, they have $1
this usually represent purchases that have not happened are just as a placeholder. So they have requested to do a certain expenditure. We have not received the bids yet, so we do put that as a placeholder until we receive the bid. So the next quarter, then you'll see the exact amount. Okay.
So yeah, I was, I thought that might be what. It was a placeholder, but I just wanted to clarify that. And then on page 10, you have as a grand total for capital improvements, 100
point 5
million, right? No, 100,001 I'm sorry, it's $100 Yeah, I'm in the millions. 100.5 $100,500 100,500 is that all capital improvements that we're doing for the entire department for the fiscal year, that seems very low
through the chair again, this represent mainly repair and maintenance for the only the months of January, February and March. Does not show what we did prior. Is not showing what we are doing later, and this is, this is the only amounts that we spent during those three months.
Okay, that's a little confusing for me, because on the chart, it says October, November and December. That's my
error that I did not carry forward like her, January, February, so I couldn't understand the chart. I apologize for that, but the numbers are correct. The the column headings should be January, February and March
and and it's just three months. Yes, not the whole fiscal year today. Absolutely Okay. Thank you. And then, and then my final question was, regarding the grants, it's significantly we've only achieved 49 you know, less than half of the grant, grant revenue that we had budgeted. Is that a timing issue, or do you think we're going to end the year with significantly lower grant revenue? That
is mainly timing issue. I cannot promise that at the end of the year we are going to be 100% with the grants just I can promise you that with the general fund, we're going to come very close. But with grants work slightly different, because the on the grant side of the operations, we need to spend the money and then we draw down to get reimbursed sometimes, mainly is a timing difference. But there are couple of grants that the chief's office is where and is working that that we need to speed up the spending doesn't mean that if we don't spend at this fiscal year, we're not going to have the opportunity to spend at least spend it. Let's say July that is next fiscal year. But with grants, is slightly different, because, again, it's per you have to spend it then draw it.
And I guess I was looking more at applying for grants, like grant revenue coming in new grants are we? Are there any pending? Are we looking at more grant submissions that that's kind of what I where I was coming
from every day. DPD through the chair again, has a dedicated team that works to to look for new grants, to obtain new grants, to spend the money on those new grants. However, if we did not have anything awarded, because it's a long process that we initiate, DPD initiated go through approval of the chief's office, the mayor, city council and all that. So until the City Council officially accepts that grant, we cannot show it on this report. That makes
sense. Thank you very much. I appreciate it.
I don't think none of us need to ask any more questions.
Great, great job Commissioner. Thank you for your report and answering the questions we want to unfinished business, I entertain a motion to provide offer letter to Jasmine Aspen knows and Dior Mathis for the position of administrative assistant within the salary range of $43,876
65,000 to $755
pending for the negotiation and background check. So move forward. Moved by Commissioner Hernandez, supported by Commissioner de wash. Any discussion. All in favor? Say, aye. Anyone opposed on the motion is carried. No new business. No new business. Praise the Lord. What is the pleasure Jeremy, she made by Commissioner Presley to adjourn and supported by commissioner,
Commissioner, oh, yes, give me a minute. Let me talk to you before you close and I ain't closer yet. Okay,
second by Commissioner Hernandez, any discussion?
Yeah, right. Here, there was chair, yeah, okay, I have my we got, I am a joint committee. Yeah, I'm okay to talk about that. Oh, yeah, absolutely. Because sir, okay, got this towing committee coming up on, oh, my man, good looking. My man, there's towing committee coming up on this Wednesday, at four o'clock. You know, it's going to be very exciting. Those of you want to learn about towing, we're going to have the audit, audit general there. I think he inspectors general, people in high places with the Detroit Police Department, will be able to bring great information about towing. Now I'm going to need we had a vice chairman, spammer of liberty, and Commissioner Burton is he's, well, I don't know, but anyway, he's gone. Then he moved out real quick. I was trying to catch him share. We got you Okay, I think that way we can have a horn. We have, you know, we got some exciting starting up. We need a corn for the people in the community to see what's going on with towing. I'm gonna get, huh, good looking Vice Chair. I'm set the answer.
Okay, alright, and no further discussion, all the favors say, aye. Anyone opposed. The motion is carried. This meeting is adjourned.
