Today is July 18, 2024, 3pm, I'll call this meeting the order we have the legendary chaplain, pecky James, to do invocation. Chaplain,
Mister Chairman, you
have to announce there is no quorum.
There's no qualm. Thank you. Thank you. And so we're going to ask for the invocation.
Amen. Good afternoon to everybody, Lord God, we just thank you for this day. God we, thank you for waking us up today. God we, thank you, God for protecting us. Oh god and leading us as we have went to and fro on this day. God, right now we ask, Oh God, that this meeting, oh God, will be informative. Oh God, God that it will give direction. Oh god, it will give insight. And God those that are on the line, we ask that you bless, oh God, God bless our men and women in blue. Oh God. God bless our city. Oh God. God bless every official, everyone that has authority over us. Oh God, God. We ask that you will bless, protect, keep them in Jesus name we pray it is so. Amen.
Amen. Thank you very kindly. Um we do have Commissioner Bernard upstairs, of commissioners to understand to summons her to come down, you know, give her a text her. But in the meantime, Commissioner Moore, you have something from the second precinct.
Yes, Mr. Chairman, tomorrow afternoon, just a quick announcement, the fourth annual jazz event is taking place at the Adams Bucha Recreation Center parking lot. Adams bustle is on the west side. The address is 10500 Linden, l y n, d o n1, 05 500 Linden. It's been an excellent event. Over the course of years, President Butler has been at every event. Bring your own lawn chairs. They have food trucks. It's a very, very excellent event. I see commander chambers in the house. I've been to a couple with him as well. So please come out to the Adams, but so Recreation Center tomorrow, between 6:30pm and 8:30pm 6:30pm to 8:30pm Thank you. Mr. Chairman,
thank you very kindly. And thank you for representing your district so well. Thank you so will we have a public comment or two? Mr.. Secretary to to be able to wait for our quorum to get here.
Yes, sir. You can go, yeah, public comments. So
do we have a public commenter here?
Yes, sir. We have six speakers. We can start. I think both of us
wanted to speak to the entire board. To the entire
board public comment.
Our first speaker will be Mr. Damon Stewart. Next will be Annie Calvin, and next will be Miss fridia Butler,
Good afternoon, Chairman and the rest of the board that's here.
Good afternoon.
I find myself here in an unusual situation again. My name is Damon Stewart. I'm here on behalf of my auntie, Miss Anne Cavin Calvin, the relationship to the murder of her son DeAndre Calvin. Now, what makes this unusual is that I am also an officer in the city of Chicago. December be my 25th year. I'm a Special Victims Unit detective. Additionally, I've been practicing law since 2008 so as a detective, I see and as a detective and some of the legal with the State's Attorneys are your prosecutor may deal with in this situation. We've done our our civilian part of trying to help the detectives with this case, but my Auntie has reached out to everybody she could to give that additional information. Excuse, the microphone. We've reached out to everybody we could give that additional information, and it seemed to become to a stalemate. So we're coming out here as a last chance, as a public cries for help with this investigation, as opposed to trying to attack the department or somebody else. So we're not sure who to speak to, but we need to speak to somebody, because there's significant information we can provide. And we've tried. When my auntie speaks, she will be able to tell you everybody you spoke
to, that's that's the two minutes then he had a clock up because I see two minutes in front of me. Sure. I
apologize. We had a technical issue that we were addressing so the clock was not running. You got 30 seconds.
Thank you. I'm sorry, sir. Okay,
so again, I will ask the question, if there's someone we need to speak to, will you be able to direct us to who we can speak to be able to help move this on absolutely
Good afternoon. Deputy Chief Mark bliss, I have got commander chambers here. He's going to take your information and I'm going to get it to the detective bureau so we can get it to the investigator and we can have those discussions. But
just so you can be aware, we've spoken with the detective that we've spoken with the lieutenant, we've spoken with the captain. We've tried to connect the dots, but I don't know if there's a furlough issue or if there's people moving around, something's not connected,
not a problem. We'll make sure that we talk to the deputy chief. Okay,
excuse me, just for clarification, are you saying that you didn't get a response?
We have one lieutenant who did respond, who was following up, and then he got transferred. Now he's he got went to detached services. So he went to another unit, and he said there was going to be somebody else who follow up, but who didn't. And again, that's the communication with me personally. There's been additional communication with the decedents my mother.
Okay. Thank you so much. And can you give Commissioner Smith your information as well? To take it offline, he's going to ask. She was going to ask, what's the name? I don't want to put that on in the public Yeah. So
go ahead, Commander chambers.
Yes, yes, ma'am. You want to speak as well? I
just want to say my name is Andy Calvin, and I just, I'm just reach here. I need some help. I need some answers. I have reached out to the captain, to the lieutenant, to the everybody I can think of. The captain will call me. I'll give her information. She'll say she'll call me the next day. I never heard from when I called them, they don't answer the phone. Their voicemail is full like I don't know what else to what else to do. I don't need to talk to the prosecuting attorney. I've reached out to the lieutenant. I've talked to them. They're not doing anything. They're not I don't gave them information that if they follow the information or just talk to the people that I'm asking them to talk to, they have information. They will be able to put the pitch picture together. They're not, they're they're they're not doing anything. They won't return my call. They won't return Texas. They won't do anything. And this is just, I mean, how about Swallow this pill? This person came to my house. I tried to get a PPO. I can't even get a PPO. I can't do anything. There's nothing that don't want to help me do anything. And my son needs justice when they know they know who did it. And I just, I'm just here pleading. I need some help.
Wait. You will get a response 1,000%
okay, thank you. Yeah.
I'm sorry that you're going through that as well. Next public commenter, Miss Butler.
Commissioner Bill, are you coming back? So we're going to lose our quant to do these. We're gonna lose our qualm to be able to do the interviews.
All right. Go ahead.
Good afternoon. Commissioner Bernard, at the meeting, June 27 you stated that it seemed as if a diff at different events where a majority of us are involved, the arrangements are carried out differently. I have felt the same way, and have heard from others express the same sentiments. I'm also concerned about the behavior of members on the board. When a member comes in late, walks slowly, stops talk and shake hands with a member in the audience he is not respecting his position as a commissioner and others. Commissioner Banks has committed this offense too many times, commissioners, when a man has made changes in his life and is now contributing to us, we should be grateful we are all subject to make mistakes, and should not act as a judge and continue hold whatever happened in a man's life against him, but move on and take a look in the mirror. Commissioner Presley, thank you for the work you did as the Chairman of the Board of police commissioners, you chaired the meetings with dignity and respect. Chairman woods, I admired how you made statements and address your concerns as a new member, and I'm hoping as the chairman of the commissioners. You will continue from my observation the job is not easy. Thank you.
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Next public commenter,
the next speakers will be mr.. Jackie hunt, mr.. Nita Williams and sharnita sharnita Williams and Miss Tara Brown,
we're all set now. Hi, thank you for having this board meeting. I was at the meeting last Thursday, and I spoke on these, what do you call abandoned vehicle stickers? At the time of that meeting, I had to before this meeting, I got another one on my windshield or on my window. It seems that nobody at the precinct or the office of chief investigator is able to do anything. I even found out they got my phone number wrong. They said I got a call from that from them, but it was switched to 313, and that's not my area code, so I don't know who's changed it or why, but I think somebody can do something about the officer, officers that's putting these stickers on my car. This it's insured. I have permission to park on the street from the state, but somebody is not stopping these fellas or ladies from coming and putting it on my car, and they're telling me the stickers only last 15 days. No, I have a 60 day sticker. Can they run the stickers. Nobody seems like they're afraid to answer that question, but I know better what's going on. So I'm here again to find out this three year now, maybe tomorrow, next day, maybe another so I think maybe it's also a joke as well. I need help. Thank you.
Thank you, Chief Investigator,
that's a question right quick. Mr. Chairman, sir, is your vehicle moving or is it just in one spot continuously?
So it's it's frozen still that occurred in front of my house.
How long has it been there consistently? It's
not there for six months, not moving. I don't I don't work, not that you needed to know that, but I don't drive it every day. But seems like they're telling me I need to go somewhere every day.
I asked the officer last week.
I asked to go somewhere every week,
every day.
Okay, chief investigator, are you done? Commissionable? Sorry, yeah, through, through the
Chair. Just wanted to report to the board that Mr. Hunt did come by the office yesterday. He has been in contact with the investigator who is in charge of this. Investigators. Investigator counts. We were expecting Mr. Hunt today, but we will service Mr. Hunt and in this investigation and report the findings like we normally do, sir.
Thank you very kindly. And you have a call now.
May I comment quickly?
Yeah, very quickly, Mr.
Mr. Hunt, I assume that what you're talking about is your parking on a legal street. You can park. There's no limit to the amount of time you can park, as I understand it, on a legal on a street, street parking. I've had that issue myself, and I've been told you can't do it, so you are legal. If you're parking on the street or something like that, that's different, and
we're not giving any legal advice as relates to that. Okay, the law, all right, we have a quorum now, and so I move that we, or I entertain a motion to accept the agenda, adopt the agenda. So moved
to do introduction of commissioners.
Okay? First, Mr. Chairman,
yep, yes. Mr. Brown, introduction of commissioners. Chairperson
woods here, Vice Chairperson. Smith present, Mr. Bernard,
Attorney Linda Bernard. Present, District Two mission banks
excels excused. Absent Commissioner Dale, excellent excuse. Absent Commissioner Burton. Present, Mr. Carter asked for an excuse. Absent Commissioner Moore,
Mr. Chair, but I may leave early, later, at some point during the meeting.
Okay, thank you. All right, let's go to we have a call. Commissioner Bernard, can you be seated? So that, can you both be seated.
Thank you.
So let's, let's go with the adoption of the agenda.
So moved support, moved
by Commissioner Presley and supported by Commissioner Moore. I just asked that we be able to, if there being no objections, move the chief of police report before the interviews. There's been no objection, objections, the agenda is adopted. Uh, let's go to the chief of police. Report,
good afternoon, Deputy Chief Mark bliss. On behalf of Chief, wonderful. I'm
sorry, Mr. Chairman, you have to do adoptable minutes.
I'm sorry. Thank you. I move for adoption of the minutes. So moved my glasses on. Motion. Made by Commissioner Presley and supported by Commissioner more, all in favor say, aye, aye. Anyone opposed a motion is carried, Chief of Police report or yeah, thank you. Introduction of bop staff. I'm sorry,
yeah, good afternoon. Mr. Chair, we have us with us. Chief Investigator, Warfield, parliamentary, Doctor Jackson, John Underwood, just Theresa blossom, Miss Artemisia Joshua, acting supervised. Investigator, Elgin Murphy, ASL, interpreter, Mr. Carter and Dr Stephanie Beatty, mr.. Don Hennis side is the court reporter and media service doing a video and audio Thank you. And send in for the chief is Deputy Chief, Mark Blitz, and I go on to the elected officials, Mr. Marie overall, State Representative, Carter's office this field, but the President of the second precinct community relations, mr.. Don Davis officer, Council Member Freddie duhawley, third and former Commissioner William Davis, and investigated counts.
All right, thank you, chief of police report.
Thank you, as indicated, Deputy Chief marcolis On behalf of Chief James E White, I'm going to start first with the update on injured officers. There are no critically injured officers due to on duty injuries. Crime data as of July 17, homicide, our year to date, total is 117 the same time in 2023, 137 with a decrease of 15% non fatal shootings. Our year to date is 365, our 2023, year to date is 449, with a 19% decrease robberies, 570 year to date, 2023, year to date is 772 for a 26% decrease for total violent crime. Our year to date is 6215 the same time last year, 6928 with a 10% decrease carjacking. Our year to date is 56 our 2023 year to date is 94 for a 40% decrease our drag racing and block party enforcement for the weekend of July 12 through the 14th, we investigated 145 people. Of those 145 118 were residents. 27 were non residents. We did 70 traffic stops. We issued 14 traffic citations. We investigated 74 vehicles. We impounded three. We had eight weapons recovered, and during that time, we responded to 79 police call for service runs.
We also, at that time, had 79 block party responses. Moving on to the total drag racing Block Party enforcement stats, year to date, for people, investigated, 895 residents, 481 non resident, 175 traffic stops. 414 145 traffic citations, investigated, 479 vehicles, impounded, 60 vehicles. There was 11 stolen vehicles that were recovered. We had 71 year to date felony arrest. We recovered 58 weapons. 228 police calls for service. We had 18 attempt or fleeing vehicles. 146 Block Party responses, two reckless driving tickets, drag racing tickets. We issued six spectator tickets. We issued 66 special attentions to those areas. 69 and cell phone seized. 36 moving on to mental health related calls for service in the last seven days, we had 344 total calls for service. We serviced 307 of those calls in the last seven days. Overall, calls for service in 2024, year to date, 9620 the same time in 2023 8974 calls for service. Serviced calls in 2024, today, 8353 we serviced the same time last year. 7941 so we are itching up overdose related calls. In the last seven days, we had 230 calls for service, and we serviced 160 calls. Year to date, overall, calls for service in 2024, 4420 and the same time last year, 4406 service calls in 2024 3129 the same time last year, 3243 moving on to significant incidents. Incident Number one, a fatal shooting on Thursday, July 11, at 7:38pm officers were dispatched to the 18,000 block of cotting to investigate a fatal shooting. Officers arrived at the location observed the victim seated in the driver's seat of a white GMC minivan suffering from a gunshot wound to the chest. The victim was transported to a local hospital by medic four, where he was pronounced deceased On arrival, officers from the eighth precinct preserved the scene, and detectives from Homicide section were notified and responded to the scene. Witnesses report seeing a gray vehicle pull next to the victim's vehicle and fire shots the suspect vehicle then drove south on Codding Street, then west on Grand River. The incident is still under investigation. Detectives are asking anyone with additional information regarding this incident to contact Crime Stoppers at one 800 speak up or Detroit River, or Detroit rewards TV Incident Number two, the death investigation by Wayne County bailiff on Friday, July 12, at 2:23pm, officers were dispatched to the 17,000 block of Manderson to assist a Wayne County bailiff with a mental person. Armed officers arrived on the scene and observed the bailiff talking to the suspect. The suspect, who was armed with a knife, was refusing to comply with the eviction order. Officers gave the suspect several verbal commands to drop the knife and exit the apartment, to which the suspect refused. Officers entered the apartment, at which point the suspect pointed the knife at the officers. Officers deployed and discharged their department issued tasers toward the suspect, striking him. However, the suspect continued to advance toward the officers, specifically the Wayne County bailiff. The suspect was again given verbal commands to drop the knife, which he ignored the bailiff, fearing for his life, fired his handgun, striking the suspect. Officers began rendering aid to the suspect until medics arrived on the scene. Medics arrived at the scene and transported the suspect to a local hospital, where he was pronounced deceased on arrival. Officers on the scene made the proper notifications. Detectives from the homicide Task Force arrived and conducted a preliminary scene investigation. The homicide task force will be handling the investigation. The incident is still under investigation. Incident three, fatal shooting on July on Saturday, July 13, at 4:50pm officers were dispatched to the area of CARDONE and Robinwood to investigate a fatal shooting. Officers arrived at the scene and observed the victim lying on the grass near the sidewalk. Officers rendered aid to the victim until engine 44 arrived on the scene. Officers pronounced the victim deceased on the scene. I'm sorry. Medics pronounced the victim deceased on the scene. Officers from the 11th precinct preserved the scene, and detectives from the homicide section were notified. Detectives determined that the victim was shot by a black male, approximately six to 200 pounds, with long dreadlocks. The suspect was last seen running through the alley between CARDONE and Russell. The incident is still under investigation. Detectives are asking anyone with additional information regarding this incident to contact Crime Stoppers at one 800 speak up or Detroit rewards TV. Finally, Incident Number four, non fatal shooting. Triple shooting on Monday, July 15, at 8:59pm officers were dispatched to the 8000 block of Gratiot to investigate a shooting. Officers arrived on the scene and were met by bystanders stated that the suspect was shooting people at the gas station. Officers observed the suspect inside the location, holding a gun. Officers gave the suspect verbal commands to drop the weapon. The suspect then threw the gun outside the door and it landed underneath the vehicle parked at a gas pump. Shortly thereafter, the suspect exited the location and was arrested by officers. Officers from the seventh precinct preserved the scene and notified detectives from the seventh precinct detective unit. Further investigation revealed that the suspect arrived at the scene and started randomly shooting at individuals. Three victims were wounded at the scene by gunfire, and one victim was injured by flying glass. Victim number one, a pregnant female, was shot in the face. Victim number two was shot in the back. Victim number three was shot in the left thigh. Victim number four suffered injured injuries to the face by broken glass. All the victims were transported to a local hospital. Victim number one was listed in critical condition, and victims two, three and four were listed in temporary serious condition. On Tuesday, July 16, detectives from the seventh precinct detective unit submitted a warrant to the Wayne County prosecutor's office for review. The warrant is still currently being reviewed.
Positives,
Block Party safety on Monday, news media reported on the block parties that were successfully shut down for safety over the weekend to prevent violence, celebration of the Detroit Police Department's cultural diversity. Tomorrow, from noon until two o'clock PM, there will be a luncheon in the Skylar room, hosted by the Committee on race and equality to celebrate diversity and cultural differences within DPD precinct events. Second precinct today, the second precinct is holding a movie night for seniors at the precinct. Their annual jazz event is Friday, from 6:30pm to 8:30pm six precinct on Tuesday, officers held an anti bullying talk with local students. Career Day with a local school will occur on Saturday. 11th precinct, the annual family Monday is happening today at the 11th precinct. That concludes my report.
Any questions? Commissioner Moore, thank
you, Mr. Chairman, Chief, as it relates to evictions, what is the Detroit Police Department's role
through the chair, the department's role for evictions is just to be there to preserve the peace. We're not to take any action. We are just there to preserve peace. Because I
understand what the scenario you gave in Palmer Park, officers deployed their tasers. Are you aware of that
through the through the Chair? Yes, they
did. Yes. The the individual was armed with a with a weapon, so it's in order to for to preserve life, yes.
My second question is related to crime reporting. If a citizen files a report or complaint and the detective states they've tried to contact this person two or three times, is that still counted as a crime statistic
through the chair? So how they would, how they would catalog that? There would be other additional factors to see if that would be closed, or if it would or if it would remain open. So each case on itself would would be evaluated. It doesn't necessarily make say that it's a stat. It could be a closed case. It could be closed under special circumstances. So it would it would vary, but
if the case is closed, it wouldn't count as a stat.
It would still be counted as a stat, but it would, it would not be a The short answer is yes, it would be still counted as a stat if it's closed,
but not a stat in that criminal investigation or overall count.
It's through the chair, through my understanding it would be, but I can get you further information just to make sure
that I'm clear on is the question clear. I mean what I'm asking or it is, but I
know that there are circumstances that may sway either way, and I don't want to give something that's incorrect. I just want to make sure that if there is additional information I have to give you that I do give you that. Okay,
thank you, chief.
Anything further on remind the committee members that we have to do the interviews Commissioner Hernandez,
thank you through the Chair, just a very brief question, how many officers do those internal affairs currently have under investigation, and what's the status of those cases? We always sit here and get report outs from mr.. Warfield in regards to the backlog of non criminal complaints against police, we never really get a full report out on the the internal affairs investigations that are ongoing, they seem to just disperse and just disappear. So if we can get an update before the end of the meeting, that'd be fabulous. Mr. Chair, I'll
reach out and see if I can get that for you, sir, thank you.
Great question.
Just quickly, and among the administrative messages that you've sent out to the departments this week is one involving overtime. You've changed the whole overtime form and the way overtime is recorded and how it can be paid. Can you give us at the next meeting report on really the amount of overtime and how much it costs the department
through the Chair? Yes, I can have that prepared for you now.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
The chair, yes, sir.
Question to the to the chief. Just recently, it was reported that Detroit had experienced, you know, one of the most mass shootings in Detroit's history. What the community have not heard was what time did the first 911 call was made that came in that later led to being dispatched, and what was the police response times, and how many officers did you have in that location, versus the amount of officers that you had downtown Detroit at night
through the chair. I don't have those regarding
that with me, but I can get that information and forward it to the board.
Yes, and we would like something expeditiously on that. We've seen some of the media reports, but we also, you know, went over into that community and talked to a lot of people in that community, and this is of utmost importance that we get briefed on that that's, that was, is the word mass shooting. Thank you for raising that up. Commissioner Burton, because it was the worst mass shooting in the state of Michigan, not the city of Detroit, you know. And we want to get some answers on that immediately. Commissioner Hernandez,
thank you through the chair, this is a follow up, and it's your discretion, Mr. Chairman, it might be appropriate timing to actually have risk management come back and give an update as well. I think all of this is super interrelated. I'm not sure if they're on the docket already to present in the next couple of weeks, but I would ask that we actually push that up if possible.
Yes, absolutely, absolutely. So any further questions or comments there being no further okay, yes,
I'm sorry. Through the Chair, I have a question and a comment. We've been contacted a lot from the adults in the community in regards to the block party shutdowns and things that are not considered, that will be annual events that have not been blocked considered to be block parties, such as the Cooley alumni in different nightclubs that are on the main streets, and the adults are now complaining that their establishments and parties are being shut down. Is this an enforcement that will continue throughout the summer that once, as it started, was with the younger adults who are having the black parties were now spilling over into the older generation of people, and now the that that generation feels that they're being affected from what was considered to stop the younger adults from partying
through the chair. So we're not trying to stop the older adults, those types of block parties, those what we're looking at is the things where we've had block parties, where they start at 1011, o'clock at night, there is 100 200 300 people there. You know, they're parked all along. There's, you know, there's been no petitions, no nothing in order to have those types of of gatherings. Those are the ones that we're after. And we really want to make that distinction, that the ones that have been going on and are peaceful. And, you know, people aren't bringing guns to those. You know, those are the ones that, if they follow the rules, if all the petitions and in order to get it certified, we're not trying to stop that at all, but we are concerned with the ones that are that are just being announced, that are popping up and it's, it's a bona fide threat to the community. I mean, people are being held hostage in their houses. You I've, I've been to a lot of these scenes. You cannot drive through the street. It's, there's people all over, you know, and then you, you add to that, that there a lot of these people are armed, and there's alcohol and and on and on. I mean, it is definitely a threat. And, you know, looking at what has just transpired like, like you said, 21 people have, you know, were shot, two of them fatal. I mean, it's alarming. So I think that we all have to make sure that we take responsibility and and do what we need to do to ensure that every kind of gathering is safe. But the ones we are concerned about are the ones that shouldn't be started to begin
with through the chair, even though the ones that you all are concerned about, but the ones that are being shut down as well are ones that the adults are being the ones that I just stated like at businesses like such as the Cooley Alumni Weekend and those that was one of the events That was shut down due to the, I guess, overpopulation of people, because they had every graduation year to attend, and just the community has just been reaching out, and they're very, very upset. And I don't not the answers, but give them, because I didn't make the rule. But, you know, they're, they're very upset because it's the adults are starting to say, well, what are we to do now? Because we aren't the one, of course, that are committing the crimes. But it's also like one bad apple spoils the batch. I will say what, you know, people are really concerned and very frustrated
through the chair. Well, in all of these cases, one thing that we have to understand is there's certain codes, there's certain ordinances that we have to follow, and it doesn't matter if you're young or if you're old, we still hold you to that, because it's a rule now, in the case that you're talking about, I don't know specifically why it was shut down, and there could be something, there could be more behind it. So I don't want to speak prematurely on it, but I just want to remind everyone that there's still, there are rules for regardless if you're young or if you're old, we have to follow the rules. And even if you're old, if you're not following the rules, we're going to have to shut it down, because it's not a compliance. But we will give every opportunity to make sure that you know before these things happen, that everyone knows what the rules need to be followed. Of course, if they are planning one, go to your precinct, talk to your commander, your your captain, your NPO, to make sure that you're in compliance. Because we really don't want to shut any of them down. We are concerned with the ones that come out in a moment's notice. 300 people, 1112, o'clock at night, and it's a party all through the night.
Okay, sir.
Thank you so much. Ed chair, I
have a follow up to that. Yes, sir. Listen, so what is a estimated time frame for that process? So say, for instance, you know a person desires to have a block party, and you have these measures that need to take place. Is that a two week period? Is that a month period
through the chair? Well, whatever you're asking for, it have to go through certain layers, and that is, if you're going to close the street down, not only does are the are the police notified, but so is fire and other departments in order for them to sign off, because, again, we don't want to close the street down if the fire department comes back and says, that's the main route for our fire trucks. So that could cause concern, but it could take a couple weeks. That's why we actually asked the community, if you're planning something start early, because we don't know. I mean, I've seen them go a couple weeks. I've seen them go a couple days. It just all really depends.
Yeah. And I was asking primarily because of, you know, these pre existing events, if there are any that are coming up in the next, let's say, two to three weeks, it seems like it might be infeasible for them to actually complete the process, and wondering if there may be some secondary alternative for those who might have something in the next two to three weeks, noting that the policy, I don't know if it's just been created, but obviously it's just kind of been communicated to the community so that those institutionalized events have a means to follow the rules while still being able to hold their date, which might be within the next two to three weeks. Mr. Chair, it's
important that, what I would recommend is to meet with the precinct that it's going to be in and talk so maybe they can expedite some of this. Because, again, for a lot of these long standing events, we really don't want to stop that. We really want that to continue. You know, especially things that you know have been a tradition with the community. We want to really, you know, do the best we can to make sure that we're all in compliance, and anything that we can do, even if it's close as at least, have those discussions, because maybe we can expedite, but it never hurts to get there as early as you can. But definitely, you know, reach out to your precinct and and talk to your NPOs, and we can do the best we can to make sure that we're following all those ordinances and codes.
Thank you.
Thank you. Chair. I'm sorry. Through the Chair, I had Deputy Chief, I had a following, I had an establishment reach out to me yesterday, and it's an annual 30 year event, and they said that the precinct canceled it. And, you know, they're very frustrated. Vendors are coming from out of town. They said, this is the way they make money. Their club makes money. And it it just was no explanation that it had to be shut down due to what's currently going on. And this was, like I said, a 30 year annual event, so I'm not really sure, and because it's not my event, I'm just the messenger and that they're complaining to but once again, a 30 year annual event that has been shut down because of the block party ordinance or policy that has been created.
So through the chair, what I would do is I would reach out to the precinct of occurs to find out exactly what happened. The reason why I say that is is there could be things behind that that we just don't know. And even if it's a 30 year event and you're not following any of the rules or any of the code, I mean, there's certain things that are set up in order for it to run smoothly and and for safety reason. So I don't want to say that that's right or wrong, because I don't know all the circumstances, but I would definitely get clarity from your precinct, because I'm sure that there's a reason why, if it was shut down, why it was okay,
okay, as we move on, I strongly encourage you to have the department sent to the board of police commissioner the ordinance that you guys withdrew as City Council yesterday that didn't get passed, and so that we can take a look at it and see I'll have some input on that as well. Quickly, very quick, very
quickly. First of all, for purposes of our viewing audience and our presidents here, where do you get the application to have the block part? Much? What is the fee that the city charges to get the block party approved. And I want to Amen what my sister commissioner said about not interfering with events and private establishments that is inappropriate. We don't interfere with things that Joe Muir's, they have huge everybody else has huge things indoors and outdoors. But we don't want to disenfranchise community businesses and community establishments. Okay,
thank you very kindly. Answer to the question, so
how much does it cost?
You can I don't have the cost, but I do know that if you need to get the petitions and all the information, you can get them from your from your neighborhood, police officers at the precincts, so
it's not online or anything like that, not that I'm aware of. Okay, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank
you. Now we're moving on to item number seven with the board of police commissioner, Officer report and on a report the chairman report. We have five interviews scheduled, so we asked the audience to be very, very patient with us. This is something that is going to be able to help and benefit our efficiencies as we move forward as an organization. So I'd like to know if Is there anyone in here to be interviewed? Expect to be interviewed. Raise your hand. And so the only person should be in here is Mr. Franks at this time. And if anyone else who's away, you're for public comment right now. Okay, yeah, so we'll do public comment after we do the interviews for the board secretary. And so Mr. Franks, if you can come up and have a seat right here
and
see how you doing, sir, I'm going away. Well, great, mr.. Tipton, online, and I would like to remind all of the commissioners that and I'm appointed to personnel and training committee chair to be able to get us get the framework started as relates to these interviews. Commissioner Hernandez, yes,
sir, through the chair. Do we have mr.. Tipton online, sir. Okay, perfect, just as as context, especially for the audience, and also for our candidate who's here and any candidate who might be in the waiting room, there was a very volumous, I'm going to say, request from my colleagues actually hold these interviews in public, which is the reason why we're here. So just want to add that for the public number one, to my fellow colleagues, if you do have any questions outside of the five questions that mister Tipton will ask, I ask that you notate them and ask them that all five candidates, we have to remain consistent in the questioning that we do of every single candidate. Number two is that if any commissioner needs to leave or exit early, we would ask that they actually refrain from the rating process, because that would actually skew our process, unless you're able to rate all five candidates. So if any commissioner is not able to, now would be the time to notate that for the record. And the third item, Mr. Chairman, you already noted if any other candidate as a courtesy, if any other candidate is currently in the room, we would actually ask that they step outside and wait until the conclusion of this interview.
Yes, sir, through the chair. So, Mr. Chairman, you go and do like former chairman Presley did, as relates to keeping the questions that we asked, as opposed to different commissioners asked some various questions, as Commissioner Hernandez,
yes and but if, if a commissioner has a question, he just he is he or she? Need to ask that to every candidate? No. So we're not limiting, limiting commissioners for not asking questions outside of these five. But if you ask the question to one, you ask it to all, I
guess in the best interest, I was wondering if you were going to try to keep our questions, but I can ask the same question five times. Me too.
Thank you. We'll make you to record the secretary for now. Chair, yes,
this is Mr. Tipton, sir. So I heard Commissioner Hernandez said I will be asking the question if that wasn't the case last time. So I just want to make sure that we're clear on that. Do you guys want me to answer the question, or will each Commissioner be taking a question of the listed question that was sent over today?
We can have you. Will you be available for the entire meeting. Unfortunately,
I won't okay, because let's just get through it and see. And I would rather be here as much as as long as I can and to assist the board and get into we want to get a qualified candidate, and I would prefer that you guys are taking your notes versus answering the question,
okay, and alright, because if you're not going to be here, once you finish, Commissioner Hernandez will kick up from you.
Okay, sounds good. So whenever the board is ready, we can begin, and I can start
to share. Yes, sir. The question
is, what he's here present now, Mr. Tempted, why he cannot be on the on the part of this meeting for the whole duration. If commissioners is going to be here for the duration he represents the cdhr ought to be here for the
duration where he gets off at 430
Yeah, it doesn't have anything to do with it. He signed up for this just like we signed up. Well,
just to be clear, though, I think that Commissioner Hernandez's point was that commissioners leaving can impact the actual score rating that selects the person who serves as the board secretary. And while we're deeply appreciative of the expertise that Mr. Tifton can provide from HR, it won't have the impact on who is selected, being unfair. So that's that's the difference between a commissioner leaving and Mr. Tipton having to leave. Yeah,
and absolutely. And it's our responsibility to suit the Secretary, which I hope that we all take very, very seriously, which I know we do. Yes, sir, thank you.
The last point that I'll make is in your packet, you have the actual questions one through five, along with a rating sheet for each of the five candidates. I ask that you take diligent notes and subsequently rate according to your desire. What I will note is, if you look at the interview question list and actually take one of the rating summaries. The questions are slightly out of order, so ask that you pay attention to the competency in which you're rating and asking the notes or taking down the notes. Rather, for example, question number two, the dimension on self confidence, is actually question five on your rating sheet. So just please be mindful of your rating sheet versus the questions,
yes, when that do happen? Mr. Hernandez, Commissioner, Hernandez, can you when we get to that part this advise us? Thank you. Mr. Shifter,
yes. So again. Good afternoon, sir, and thank you for joining us. For the interview. We're going to ask you a total, actually five questions. The very first question is an introduction of yourself, so it really going to be a total of six. When giving your response for questions two, we're giving your response for question two through five. We want you to think of a specific situation, the task you had to take on, the action you took toward that task, and then the end result when giving your response. So can you just briefly turns about your experience, any experience that you have in civilian oversight, law enforcement, the legal field and administration of work with a broad with the board. I'm sorry, any working with the board, and please be brief and specific in your discussion.
Thank you. Alright, so, so one of the boards that I am actively on is with the Ann Arbor public transportation. So that's one of the boards that I take when it comes to when it comes to just transportation, and how they improve the transportation. I am one of the board members of that just briefing. Then I'm also a board member with mentor, mentor to youth. And then I'm also a board member with Ann Arbor as well public school district. So I do so I'm part of a lot. I'm not a part of a lot of boards, but I'm part of boards that you know that makes sense, and then help the community. Instead of being a part of the problem, I like to be a part of the solution.
So all right, thank you for that response. Question number two, discuss options you would consider in handling someone who repeatedly refuses to comply with reasonable directives or is openly disrespectful, and in your discussion, describe your overall management and leadership style to tell us how employees or how many employees you have supervised.
Alright, so I go a little bit more in detail. So pretty much the what I have set up, and what I have developed in the city of Detroit is people's Express for the paratransit, where transition from trans to where they approved us to be a part of the paratransit. So I was the general manager over about 50 people. So my management style is more or less is hands on. So I'm more of a learner, and I like to, I like to go hands on and coaching to show what I want and how I need it done. Now I have had a, you know, well, when you in the general manager space, as I was, and something that was not heard of, where people's express that they this is the first time they had a contract with the city of Detroit. So dealing with the amount of people that I had to hire within the within the time that I had to hire, and that was roughly about around 20 to 25 people within 30 days, and get up and running by New Year's Day. So you can, you can pretty much understand how that could be a difficult situation, trying to get everybody on board to just, you know, just to make just to make this work. So what I did was I learned everything first. So pretty much, I learned how the system operates. I learned what needs to be done, the transportation, how many cars, everything. I learned everything first, and then I was able to teach everybody the same way, because I wanted everybody to be cross trained. So pretty much, I had all drivers, and then I elevated them through the ranks. So they all got promoted through the ranks. And some people, you know, were kind of like, you know, upset when it came to, like, why did this person particularly get the position, and I didn't, and, you know, and I had this claim to him, you know, it's, it's a work in progress, you know, I'm not perfect, but I am trying to put people in, people in position to make this work, but also it's more opportunity. So I'm, I'm one of those majority rule type of person. You know that if the majority say that this is how it needs to go, then that pretty much what I would go hit. Because I know I can't please everybody, but I try to do my best, but I but I am the one that's working and doing, you know, and doing the ins and outs to get my feet dirty as well. Because I don't think I'm better than anybody, so, you know. So it's just one of them, things where I like to promote. I like to, you know, I like to give people the opportunity, but I also have a job to do, and I also have contracts to appeal and people to, you know, people to that needs me to make sure that I'm making the right things, because at the end of the day, it's about the people you know. So I was able to create and develop something, and I held a team that is still striving to this day with the 98% retention rate and on time rate of 98% so for people's express to be first time in the city of Detroit, and for me to do it, you know, it was definitely a reward winning. And now the the disabled and the seniors are happy with the services they are receiving till this day.
Thank you for that response. Question number three, often times we are placed under pressure or have conflicting demands for our time at work, multiple projects are due at the same time, two or more people require our time or assistance, two or more requests to complete a project differently. So please describe a time when you are under pressure and experience conflicting demands at work. Give us a specific situation and how did you handle the conflicting demands
so so one of the situations was, well, with people expressing in that we were able to get it up and running in New Year's, but I had multiple bosses. So one of my bosses with Michael, with the Department of Transportation, then another boss that I had was Doug with people's Express so, so, so having a new project and having it launch as quick as it did we, you know, I had to, we had to work together, and we had to figure out how to make this work, but also be efficient and and not not be what they they want us not not be what they said, you know. So when I say that, it means where, like, Mike and, you know, Doug, my boss is at this at that particular time, is, we can't fail. We got to make this work. Like, if we don't make this work, you know, it can blow up. You know, we had the City Council on our back. So it was, it was definitely, you know, a difficult time and a different challenge. But what I did was I just, I just broke everything in pieces. So what that looked like for me was I just broke everything that the higher projects, that I the high priority, I put them first, and then I just kept putting projects or putting people in position to say, Can y'all handle this part, and can you handle this part so we can make this work? And it was a lot only like I would honestly say, you know, from the time that it got approved from the City Council, which was, I think I would say, maybe two days after Thanksgiving in November, I had 30 days to get everything up and running, cars, drivers, vehicles. I mean, everything, anything that you could think of that needed to be done on New Year, and bosses in my ear, non stop, all day, every day. So I just, you know, I just was like, You know what? Let me just take a step back, break it down. Now, I was working 24 hours a day, which it which it was fine, you know, I mean, because I needed this to work for the city of Detroit, just what made me come back to the city of Detroit, it's because I needed to provide a service to to the people that you know raised me, or you know that that like said, if they were like my mom, you know, I wanted to make sure that I had the service that I needed. So when I, when I broke it down, I broke it down to a model where everybody on my team I, you know, my my motto was, I'm going to be here and I'm going to work as as hard as I can. But also want to provide limousine service when you pick up a customer, or vice versa or being on time. I want you to be rolling out the red carpet. We're going to the door. We opening the door. So I had things in my mind that I wanted to set for to make sure that it's what I wanted as well. So by me breaking it down, by me putting people in place, and by me taking advice from all my mentors, my leaders and my bosses, it made it close in together to be a success, and, you know, and I was able to relax after, not necessarily like, but I was able to not do as much as I had to within seven months of it being operation. So,
alright, thank you for that response. So tell us about a time, or give us a situation and when it was necessary to respond to to interacting with someone who became verbally abusive or may have been difficult to communicate with, if you never had that before, tell us how you would respond If that was a situation you found yourself in.
So, so at this particular time, I had a, it was, it was, it was towards the the raises. So, you know? So it was a, it was time for one of my employees to get a raise, and they were just frustrated because they like, I'm putting in this work. So I listen first, I listen, get all the details, because that's what they need. You know, I think employees are how I've been, how I was, how I was trained, or, you know, how I looked at how I wanted to change the narrative. I listen first, and I ask questions, and I, you know, and I give and I get them opportunities to say, Okay, if you work with me on this part, then we can get to the next step, and I can, you know, go to my bosses to get raises. So I think that was one of the biggest things that it was eye eye opening. Because people, you know, I mean, my my employees, you know, they love what they do, but they wanted to get paid for it. And we all know that not always the money is there. So what I did was I changed the narrative, and I made it where I'm focused on employee engagement. So what I did was, since I can't give the money like I would, I create an environment where if you got to work on a holiday, I'm working on a holiday. If we want to have barbecues, we're going to have barbecue. So I pretty much did things to make my morale booster a little bit where it was more acceptable to my employees, and that's where I was able to get a lot of my employees on board and kind of wait the process for the wages.
All right, thank you for that response. What do you believe is the best way to manage expectations of many different stakeholders? I explained a previous situation and how you how you or your organization went about meeting the needs of an internal or external customer.
I think one, I think one of the things when I when I'm on the board, and I split it up into the anti Republic transportation and the mentor to youth, so the anti Republic transportation, I look at the stakeholders and what they want and and I do my research. So I look at my research, I do my and I look at data analysts, and I look at, you know, what can, what can make my stakeholders more money, but also provide a service that they you know, they need, and that they would be comfortable With, because it's like a give or take relationship. So if I, if I, if I, if I can give them this, then I can get this, and then they always, then they also want time frames. So if I, if I like my stakeholders, such as when it comes to the busses, where they want the electrical busses, they don't, you know, they want to try to get away from the gas. So we, I had to give them a time frame, I had to give the detailing, and I had to get them the efficiency on how this would make the environment safe and comfortable. And they really want this. So I was like, you know, we can figure this out. So that's something that I took upon myself, and I just done research, and I was like, How can I make this work for my stakeholders, and how can I make this work for us as a as you know, as the board, to make both parties happen? So on that part now, with my mentor to youth, that's when it comes to helping my community, when it comes to the boys. I'm one of I'm a trans I'm one of the transportation coordinators. So what I did was I had to figure out a way to set up where I can get more funding for transportation, because a lot of the areas that I'm in, I like to do the areas that need the most help. So I had to. So I was thinking outside the box to provide a way to have more train protection so I can pick as many kids up and and more or less, it was more towards the boys. And then I was able to get my wife on board to do the girls. So I, you know, I didn't want to leave nobody out, but I had to figure out how to get transportation and get enough of it to be able to transport these boys and girls to different activities with grants and stuff. Alright,
thank you for and this is our final question. What are some best practices and emerging trends that you would use to employ with the civilian oversight standards to comport with national best practices and recommendations regarding civil civilian oversight of law enforcement.
I think one of the things that I would one of the things that I would do is it's more like it's more information. So I need as much information. I need to do as much research on policy, procedures, what is expected from, you know, the police, as we see in the and, you know, in the the Sylvia, like you said, Where listening to the listening to the residents, listening to the people, to figure out, like, what do they need? Like, do they need it online? Like, make it where it's where it's accessible on all platforms such as mail, like things such as like, when, when they mention about block parties or things such as that. I think when it comes to stuff that is important to the city and things that we're trying to keep under control, we should put out things and send out mailing advice. Send out things so the community should know. The community should not have to figure it out. Ask questions if it's a big thing and if there's something that we are trying to figure out and get on the same bandwagon. I think one of the biggest things is just give them an information. Just try to get to the community. Let's try to get to them before they get to us, because we know it's coming. We just need to be very detailed. And when it comes to information, we need to be it needs to be open, widespread, so information, I look at it as it's free, so why not provide the information to the community, and by me doing that research on learning the laws, learning to bylaws, learning how Detroit operates, and the commissions in the state on that level as well. It's just figuring out, like, okay, these are the things that is important, or, you know, and these are the things that's like, kind of on the back burner. We're going to get there. We need to make sure that the information is available on all levels, no matter if you old, young, the information just needs to be available where they don't. Nobody needs to guess where the information is at.
Thank you for that through the chair. Those are all the HR questions. I'll turn it back over to you if the commissioners have any questions.
Yes, sir. Commissioner Hernandez,
thank you through the Chair. Thank you, sir, for being here, for applying, for having interest in not only joining the city of Detroit as potentially an employee, but supporting this board as well. As you might know, this is our executive director position, so even though it says board secretary, the task is much higher than than just a clerical or administrative role. I have a very basic question, and it's not intended to catch you off guard. Have you read the city charter as it relates to Bo PC?
Yes, I read it, and when I looked at I said, not a change like, it's more detail, you know, you got to have manager experience like, which I do. But it's more, it's more making sure that I am the one, if I do get, you know the position, I am the one that makes sure the information I'm making sure that everybody is on the same page and everybody feel like everything is transparent. Pretty much, that's that's one of the biggest things, I think
so. Do you understand why the board exists and what we're actually tasked to do? Yes,
thank you. Just quickly, can you tell us why you were interested in this position. Specifically, and noted from your application that you're working on your, I guess your PhD with the. Works. So why are you interested in this position?
So one of the reasons I was interested is I love the city of Detroit. So it's one of them things where I was born and raised in the city of Detroit and, you know, and I ventured off and did things that I like to, you know, do, of course, but I think when I look at the city of Detroit, I see major improvements. So that's one of the biggest things, where it's not like it used to be. It's not like how I was growing up. It evolved, and so much so I want to be a part of what is happening, you know? I want to make my footprint on the city of Detroit. That's why I came back to do the Para trend in the city of Detroit, because I wanted to make I wanted to get my experience, or give my my things to be like, you know, this is, if I love the city, let me come and be a part of the solution. You know, we, we all, we all have conversation with people where they talk or they say, you know, what is this, dad, and this is that nothing's perfect. But instead of being part of the problem, you got to be part of solution. You know, if you want to fix things, that is one of the things that I like to fix. So in my doctor's degree, I am one of the biggest things, and it probably evolves around everybody, because we all employees. At the end of the day, one of the things that I have did my doctor's degree in and I'm almost finishing, got about two more years, but I'm doing it in employee engagement for frontline employees, because without them, it's, know, me, you know, I'm just the person that just managed. That's, that's, that's it. So that was one of the things that I found lack, not slacks and lacks in a lot of the companies that I work for, is employee engagement. You know? It's like, we, you know? So I'm just like, you know, I want to be able to share my expertise and give something back and just show people how I do it. It's not about money. It's about appreciation. And when you get employees or anybody, no matter what statue, no matter your role, when you appreciate people and you give them things that just, you know, that just makes them feel valued, you can make a change, you know, that I was able to do, and it wasn't about money, because, you know, that's the main thing. Yeah, it drives us, because we do have to live. But that's not everything that don't keep you at no job money. So
okay, yes. Commissioner Moore,
thank you, Mr. Chairman, have you ever attended a board of police commissioners meeting?
No, I attended a I attended probably about six or seven city council meetings, but not the police commission, not, not in Detroit,
yes, sir, through the Chair. Just for the record, I took notes on the question, so I'm happy to ask them to expedite for thank you for candidates. Thank
you. All right, Mr. Franks, Mr. Tifton, you have question. All right. Hold on one second, Mr. Commissioner Burton, question
would be, what can you tell us about police oversight?
So looking at police oversight, I look at I'm more I look at the details, so I look at where the numbers were before. So I have done a little research when it comes to the crime rate and the accidents and, you know, and just looking at when I, when I look at the environment, or looking at what's, what's going on, I'm trying to figure out how to make it better for my my employees, but also going out there to be able to do the job in a safety manner, and, you know, and come home at night.
So that's, what do that mean to you?
What do that mean to me, that that's my number one priority is, like, is, is one of them things is, I know we got a hard job to face, and I know it's something that is just not easy for anybody, and you know, they and and people might think it's easy, but it's not, but I, but, you know, my, my main goal is to make sure is, how can we figure out how to make it safe for each employee, each police officer that's going out there every day to fight crime, to come home safe and make it safer day by day. I know it's a lot of work that needs to be done, but I'm here to do the job. Alright? Thank
you, Mister Franks, that's it. Alright? Mister Tifton,
alright. So Mister Frank again, thank you for joining us. We will allow you, for time sake, to actually one state, excuse me, one question to the board, or give us a closing statement, statement.
So, so one of the things I have for the board is, so if whoever get the role, or I get the role, or whatnot, I would like to know, like, what's my like, what's the time frame like on when it comes to what type of Do y'all have a plan in place on? Do I have mentors to train me on what I need to do, or what is the big obstacle that y'all need done within the next three months? Or, per se,
absolutely through the chair. Great question. In terms of timing, we're looking at within the next three weeks to be able to finalize not only the decision, but to also kick start the HR process for onboarding. So it's going to still take a couple weeks after we get done with today's rating, in reference to what the board needs to get done. I mean, I mean, I don't intend to speak on behalf of the entire board, but we have a significant number of priorities. I think Mr. Warfield is doing a phenomenal job with all of the different technology that is implementing for citizen complaints, that entire track system and so forth. That's going to continue to be an item to address, more than anything, relationally, making sure that this board has everything it needs in partnership with DPD. So there are a lot of policy items and firings that still need to take place. I won't speak more on what our priorities are, but I think, at a very high level, those two items, right?
Thank you all
right. Thank you very kindly. That's been it. We're ready for our next candidate. Thank you for your interest, and we appreciate you, and best of luck to you. Appreciate y'all we look for Miss page to come in
and through the chair, because this is going to run over my time, and I have a hard unfortunately, I got a hard deadline to stop here. Can someone else take over to ask those questions? Absolutely, you.
This morning after each individual interview, or wait until the end of all five
when I mr.. Brown, yeah,
thank you.
Need your money forever. You
six, we Commissioner Hernandez, thank you
through the chair. Hi, ma'am. How are you? Thank you so much for being here. We're going to conduct an interview. It's going to be a series of questions, which now are a total of 10 questions. We have approximately between 30 to 45 minutes to get through these 10 questions. Just for awareness, obviously, you apply to the board of Secretary position for the city of Detroit to support the board of police. Do you have any questions prior to what's going to turn out to be an intro question of you know, all right, so we'll start with the very first question, which is really around technical experience, and it's your opportunity to give an introduction to the board as well. Please briefly explain how your previous experience and or education have prepared you for this position. Any experience that you may have in civilian oversight, law enforcement, the legal field in administration or working with a board. Hi, my
name is Kyle. Feel free to pull that mic up. Yep, my name is Kai Paige. Thank you so much for having me today. I have a undergrad in accounting and MBA, where I have had the great privilege of working with many CFOs, board of directors, accounting leads, presidents of organizations upon getting my MBA, started out in like the automotive industry, where I had the privilege of, you know, helping oversee a lot of different policies, working on the front end of an organization where you work in like financial planning, like you oversee the budget. Upon overseeing the budget, you oversee a lot of different like policies, procedures, overseeing like legal legal aspects, things like that. When you work in that capacity, you have to understand, like, all of the different softwares or programs across the board, because a lot of things have to come into you, and you have to be able to navigate properly. I've also had to work with like it on developing new software to make sure that orders go out properly. In regards to working with boards, many of the organizations that I've worked with, especially like handling budgets and things like that. I've had to communicate with the board, communicate, you know, what our budgets were, any questions. I was recently a deputy director for a nonprofit in Detroit, where I worked really closely with the board as well, and I did oversee data and day to day operations. I
thank you so much. We'll move on to question number two, which the dimension here is going to be around demonstrating self confidence, actually? Or Yes, demonstrating self confidence, discuss options you would consider in handling someone who repeatedly refuses to comply with reasonable directives or is openly disrespectful in your answer, please describe your overall management style, leadership style, and tell us how many employees you have supervised in the past.
So I have managed a team of 20, and that's not including like any interns or like contract employees, I would say maybe a total of 50 at once that I've overseen. I have had a few instances where I've been where felt have been disrespected in my role. One I believe in my management style is one where I'm having to meet a person, where they are versus like me, telling them to come to me. Sometimes I've had to go to someone and make sure that they understand what the task is at hand, and do a little bit of coaching, maybe even do some training. They may have had a different manager or leadership prior to me that have expected things to go one way, and then I'm coming in expecting maybe certain things to go another way. So my style is very hands on. If it's not yielding the right result by me asking them certain questions, I'm very hands on. So I will do it myself. I am not one to quickly look to terminate reprimand someone unless it becomes a true threat to the organization. Things aren't getting done or it just obviously we a lot of communication that we have with my leadership as well. My first in think is to never like reprimand someone is to always try to figure out if there's another problem. I had a an employee. Some years ago, he had ended up getting very sick, and it became a problem. Not that his work was a problem, but the attendance became a problem. Come to find out that he was struggling with something that he didn't want to share with me, and became like very, very ill. So had I taken a different approach and maybe written him up for his attendance, I would have never really found out that he had something else going wrong with him. So my first approach will always be to get a gain a better understanding.
Thank you for that. We are going to move on to question number three now, which is around organizing, planning and prioritizing work, oftentimes we are placed under pressure or have conflicting demands for our time at work. Examples of that would be multiple projects to do at the same time. Two or more people require time or assistance two or more requests to complete a project differently. Please describe a time when you were under pressure and experienced conflicting demands at work. A lot
when you are in a leadership role, you don't typically just handle your responsibilities, your team and all of their roles and duties oftentimes become your roles and responsibilities that you have to oversee. Me understanding what those responsibilities and timelines are gives me a better idea to put forth any that any deadlines and priorities. I use my calendar. If it does not exist in my calendar, then I'm in trouble. So I do utilize my calendar. I do weekly check ins with the team to gain a better understanding if my team is, you know, receiving conflicting information, where they're unsure, that is where I, you know, often rely on my team to come back to me with open communication so I understand what's going on on their plates.
Thank you so much. Question. We'll move on now to question number four, which is around communication. Tell us about a time when it was necessary to respond to I'll restate the question because there's a typo. Tell us about a time when it was necessary to respond with someone who became verbally abusive or may have been difficult to communicate with. If you have never encountered the situation, how would you respond? So you're seeing somewhat of a similarity to a previously asked questions, but there's an opportunity to for you to expand upon that.
I am not one that is easily moved by someone maybe saying things verbally. I've worked in community for a really long time. I've been a leader for many years, and I've worked with individuals that have always thought that they were a lot older than me. So I've seen disrespect at many levels. I've been able to communicate at many levels. If disrespect is happening, obviously, in front of others, then I would take that conversation behind closed doors and then consult with my leadership to gain a better understanding of us to you know, how to move forward on that, you know, but I am going to always be one that's going to lead with confidence positivity, so I'm never going to engage. It's going to be, let's have a quick conversation behind XYZ closed doors. I
Yes, I just want to finish my note. Okay, and so we'll head on to question number five, what do you believe is the best way to manage expectations of many different stakeholders, explain the previous experience and how you or your organization went about meeting the needs of the internal and external entities.
Thank you for that question. I believe the first thing is understanding that person's expectations. If I've never worked with the individual before, I may ask a little bit more questions, which I'm not shy of, but I think it creates a relationship and a foundation of what they're expecting of me and how to deliver the best results. If I'm not one that can ask a lot of questions and I failed to be able to do the job correctly. I believe that communication, whether it be via email or phone, and I'm probably going to pick up the phone if it is the email, if I don't understand something, I believe communication is the best way to sort of get around any miscommunication or understanding of what the expectations would look like. Okay,
thank you for that answer. Question number six, what are some best practices and emerging trends that you would use to employ with the civilian oversight standards to comport with national best practices and recommendations regarding civilian oversight of law enforcement.
So thank you for that question. Prior to even coming here, one thing that I did do was do like, a Google search on like best practices and other states board of police commissioners and seeing like what was done in other states. Not exactly sure if anything's like that is done here, but I believe data is also a way to sort of help us if there's any change that needs to be made, working with the individuals that would either create those that data that I could plug into to be able to put reports out, attending meetings across various states, Whether it be in person or just communicating with individuals in various states on asking questions like, how are they doing that? Getting a better understanding that I think is one going to be one of the first places that I would look to seeing what improvements need to be made. Okay,
so the next question that's going to conclude our HR questions, if you will. The next four questions were actually asked by my colleagues here on the board. Just so for expediency, I'm going to take the liberty of asking these questions. First question is, around the city charter, have you had the opportunity to actually read the city charter and understand the role that the board has? Yes, yes. You want to expand on that. I understand
the role of the board of police commissioners is to pretty much make sure that the police department runs efficiently, that we are community facing, that we communicate, you know, the best way possible, policies, procedures, budget oversight, things like that.
Okay. Secondary question to that is, why? Why are you interested in this position?
I've been a part of just this work for a really long time and doing a lot of community facing things for many years. I'm really interested in the city of Detroit. Being raised here, living in Wayne County, not in Detroit, but I see what and so far the city of Detroit has come. I want to be a part of that change and continue to help to grow the city forward. I know with my experience, my education and background, that I would be a great asset.
Okay, somewhat of a simple question is, have you attended A, B, O, P, C, meeting before?
No, I have not. I've seen them online, but I've not okay.
And the very last question is somewhat of a follow up. But what can you tell us about police oversight, just in general?
Can you expand on that a little
bit. I think the do you want to expand on that? That was your question. Sir, sure.
Thank you, Commissioner and Mr. Chair for your committee, can you please explain to the board what do you know about police oversight, and what do it mean to you?
So police oversight, whether we're talking about decreasing violence, community engagement, what it means to me is that the Detroit Police is out there all the time, and that if a civilian is able to call, they're able to get either someone to their door or get someone on the phone. To me, what that means is safety. It means that the people of the city of Detroit feel like a community. So it brings togetherness.
Okay, thank you for that. That is going to conclude the 10 questions I think we we did it in a very quick manner, I'm going to say, but this is an opportunity for you to be able to ask us a question. We can, given that we have a little bit of time, you can ask either one or two questions of the board, and we'll try and answer the best that we can as a collective body.
I don't have any questions. No. All right,
if nothing else, that's going to conclude our interview. Again, I thank you for for being here and for applying and having interest in not only working for the city of Detroit potentially, but also with the board of police commissioners. Thank you so much.
Can you get Miss, Miss Tyson in second miss, mr.. Secretary? Thank you so much. Ma'am. You
praise the Lord.
Do more after this, I noticed that,
yeah, there's nothing in here, but it wasn't our without or
wasn't
in there. Make sure you forward it to a final
all you guys.
Miss Tyson, how you doing?
Well? How are you today, I'm
blessed. I'm going to turn it over to Commissioner Hernandez.
Thank you so much. Chair ma'am, welcome. Thank you. First of all for your interest in applying to this position. Just obviously for awareness, you apply to the board secretary position which supports the board of police commissioners, which you have in front of you. We're going to run through a series of 10 total questions. Six of them are going to be from our city, HR standard pool of questions. The remaining four questions are actually questions that my colleague asked of the other candidates that came before us, prior to you. So with that, we're going to start with our very first question, and that's going to be also an opportunity for you to provide an introduction, if you so choose, about your experience and why you're here. Any questions prior to me beginning our first question is going to be around technical experience, please briefly explain how your previous experience and or education have prepared you for this position. Tell us about any experience that you may have in civilian oversight, law enforcement, the legal field, in administration or working with the board.
First of all, thank you for having me here. My experience is really diverse. I have a Bachelor's of Science degree from Wayne State University in criminal justice. I have a degree in business management. I have an associate's degree in Paralegal Studies. I also have a master's degree in research and administration from Central Michigan University, as far as my experience is very diverse. Over the years, I had opportunities to work as a consultant, and I've worked with several organizations, including the
the ACLU, Michigan justice fund campaign for Fair Sentencing of youth, vac, which is voting access Coalition for all and several other organizations.
And many times I was consultant for members of their those organizations boards. As far as my technical, technical experience, I have experience working with all of the Microsoft Office products, SARS, Excel, PowerPoint, Microsoft Office. I work with online such as zoom.
I've worked with power Power BI work with QuickBooks. Of course, Google have done social media management and various business specific depending on the business I work with. They have specific programs that I work with.
Okay, thank you for that. If you had me at Power BI, by the way, but question number two is going to be around the dimension of demonstrating self confidence. Discuss options you would consider in handling someone who repeatedly refuses to comply with reasonable directives or is openly disrespectful, if your answer, in your answer, describe your overall management leadership style and tell us how many employees you have supervised,
as far as dealing with someone who may be difficult. First, I would remain calm, because if you have two people who are just yelling at each other, there's nothing that's going to be accomplished. So one, I would stay calm and I will stay professional. I will politely but firmly address, try to address the behavior and see if we could come to a medium where we are able to communicate more effectively. Because I believe if you can do that, regardless of your beliefs, if you are aren't even on the same page, if you can try to communicate effectively, then you can work through those differences.
Okay, thank you for that. Question number three is going to be around organizing, planning and prioritizing work. Oftentimes, we are placed under pressure or have conflicting demands for our time at work. Examples include multiple projects do at the same time, two or more people require our time or assistance, two or more requests to complete a project differently. Please describe a time when you are under pressure and experience conflicting demands at work.
Oh, gosh, that's happened so many times. Think of one example. When I work, I had a contract with an automotive company, and I had two individuals that wanted their their thing was, I need it done now. Both of them were saying the same thing. So what I did, I met with them individually to see what really needed to be done. And then I prioritize that. So just, you know, just because someone says, Hey, it needs to be done. Now, sometimes they'll do that. Just, you know, so you can, you know, their urgency may not really be as urgent as it appears to be. So after I sat down with them and to see what exactly was urgent with with their projects, I was able to prioritize and actually satisfy both areas and get get the work done in a timely manner. Those in those items that some of the items they had, I was able to have other people to handle, handle those items, so both, both were done in a timely manner.
Okay, thank you.
The next question, question number four is going to focus on communication. You're going to see somewhat of a theme in terms of managing conflict in this question as well. It's an opportunity for you to expand on it. Tell us about a time when it was necessary to respond to someone who became verbally abusive or may have been difficult to communicate with. If you have never encountered this situation, how would you respond
a time when someone was verbally abusive, as I stated before, first thing is to remain calm and Professional without without that happening, nothing will change. I have ran into someone before who was verbally and I kind of just kind of let them calm down. I remain calm and I did not elevate my voice. Because when you have two people elevating, then nothing will get accomplished. So I spoke with them with a calm voice. I let them know that I really didn't appreciate the conversation the way it was going, but I respect what they were saying, and I wanted to hear what they were saying without all of the without the yelling, without the, you know, the the unnecessary language. Once we came to a medium with with that, we were able to have a civil conversation, not necessarily that we agreed on everything, but we were able to civilly come to an understanding and get and communicate more effectively.
Okay, question number five is around business acumen. What do you believe is the best way to manage expectations of many different stakeholders, explain a previous experience and how you or your organization, what about meeting the needs of the internal and external entities?
In order to meet the needs of a stakeholder, you really need to see what you have stakeholders for different things. So you need to find out one, what is the interest of that stakeholder, and be able to effectively communicate with the stakeholder and get understanding and set realistic expectations on what you plan to achieve, the goals you plan to achieve with a stakeholder. When you have different stakeholders, as I said, You need to find out what the interests are, because they may not have the same interests, but there should be a commonality among those stakeholders, so starting with understanding first and then setting expectation, realistic expectations when setting the goals.
Okay, question number six is around continuous improvement and innovation. What are some best practices and emerging trends that you would use to employ with the civilian oversight standards to comport with national best practices and recommendations regarding civilian oversight of law enforcement.
May I ask you to repeat that question?
Yes, I can. Man, thank you. What are some of the best practices and emerging trends that you would use to employ with the civilian oversight standards to comport with national best practices and recommendations regarding civilian oversight of law enforcement.
Okay, some of the best practices First, I would look at other cities that may be similar to Detroit, and see what's working for them. Instead of trying to reinvent the wheel, I would look and see what their best practices are, what's worked for them, what has not worked for them. I would also look at what we're doing here and see what's working, what's not working. Like I noticed when I look on the website, there was a real uptick in complaints. They were, like almost 500 more complaints from 2022 to 2023 so I would kind of look at that and like, you know, what happened? What happened within that year versus, you know, the years prior? So there's a lot of different factors I would look at not just one particular one, so looking at other looking at other cities similar to Detroit, looking at what worked for them, what hasn't this. I would look at what we've known in Detroit, see what has worked, see what hasn't worked. See what the trends are. Why do we have an uptick? And address those.
Okay, thank you. The next four questions are going to be somewhat shorter, and these are questions that were asked by Mike Hernandez
before you get there, and just ask clarity through the chair. I recognize we want to keep each of these interviews as consistent as possible, but the question was asked, but there was one thing she didn't answer, and I don't know whether or not we can provide an opportunity to get that clarity, which was simply to tell us how many employees you supervised. That's
correct. Thank you for that.
Thank you for that. Thank you. I work with several different organizations, and I would say maybe the max, probably 25 but it varies through different agencies. Probably the max is probably 25
Thank you. Okay,
thank you. So the next that completes our HR portion of the questioning, the next four questions are actually asked by my colleagues, and I'm going to summarize them for you. Question number one is, have you read the city of Detroit charter as it relates specifically to the board of police commissioners? Yes, I
have, okay. Is
there anything that you want to add to that you're not obligated to just giving the opportunity. No, not at this time. Okay, question number two is, why are you interested in this position? So the board secretary position?
Well, I'm interested in this position because I value the city of Detroit. I value the people I have family probably in all seven districts, either friends or family in all seven districts. So they are stakeholders. And you know, I believe that working, excuse me, working with the board of police commissioners, that we can improve what we already have. I believe with improvements, then we'll have a better communities, a safer communities, the relationship between the community and police department, I believe that will. I know that's a goal, to improve on that. So I believe just doing that will be an improvement. So I'm passionate about criminal justice, as I told you, I majored in Criminal Justice at Wayne State University. I've done a lot of advocacy work over the years, and I just believe that I would be the right person for the job, if given that opportunity.
Okay. Question number nine is, have you ever attended a board of police commissioners meeting? Yes, I have. Okay. And question number 10, what can you tell us about police oversight?
Okay, from what I read with police oversight, you are really trying to make sure the duties of the board are being that are outlined in the city charter, are being addressed. You are trying to make sure you are handling correspondence, ensuring that the board is most effective transparent. You are looking out for the stakeholders. You're setting policies and reviewing the citizen complaints and making sure that those things are addressed.
Okay, thank you. That will conclude our questioning. HR, as well as the questions that my colleagues have, you now have the opportunity to ask the entire board a question or two that you might have.
Okay, no specific person, but what do you think would be the most fulfilling part of being the secretary of the board of commission, police commissioners?
I think
the most fulfilling aspect of being secretary to the board is that you're intricately involved with setting policy for the Detroit Police Department, the largest police force in this in the state of Michigan, even bigger than the state of the Michigan State Police, you're involved in justice issues here in your comments, you said that you were involved with various justice initiatives within this community. So you have a direct stake in how police officers do their job and how the how the citizens feel about that and respond to it. Is the constitutionally important position that you have as the secretary to the board, because you advise us, you certainly handle all the administrative duties. But more importantly than that, you also have to respond to our community on our behalf. So that's why it's important. Okay,
I have one other question. How do you measure the success of the secretary? How do you know that Secretary is doing their very best? Is there? How do you measure anyone? Go
ahead, me you annual evaluation, and there will be specific criteria, and all the board members will, of course, can grade you in terms of your participant, in terms of the job that you've done, in terms of fulfilling the goals that we established for you. There will be an out, an annual evaluation,
and also understanding that that the citizens voices are vitally important in this space, understanding that we need to be very, very sensitive to their various requests, and being able to help to navigate those requests and complaints that comes In from citizens and make sure that they're being treated with dignity and respect.
And I would just add through the chair one other piece, which is longevity. If you look back at the history of this position, it has remained for the most part, vacant in a permanent capacity. It's been vacant for close to eight years. At this point, there have been interim roles. There have been employees who we've had that have stepped up to some of the tasks of the board. So more than anything, it's permanence. It's longevity, its commitment to the city of Detroit and its residents, and commitment to civilian oversight, as my colleagues have mentioned, all right, if no other questions that will conclude our interview, I can't thank you enough for being here, for applying, for wanting to work not only with us, but but also in the city of Detroit.
Thank you.
Thank you. Mr.
Zacharias, next,
Mr. Chairman,
yes for
the next candidate comes in. I have comment I want to make. Yes, sir.
Okay, maybe
it was just me, but the candidate was reading the answers. Did anybody else see that she was looking down at her paper as the questions were being asked and answered? So that's a concern to me, that somebody can have the answers in advance, or the questions in advance. She was obviously coach
through the Chair, if I could. That's actually one of the concerns that I voiced and having these during a public forum like this. That's why my preference was to hold them during personal training, but you still have the ability, through your rating, to exercise your opinion on the candidates, and
I mean, through the Chair. I'm wondering if we being punitive or accusatory about maybe having notes. So I don't know whether or not the there's like, actual like answers to these questions. She may have had notes about like organizations he worked for, and things of that nature that might have, you know, aided. So I'm, I hear your concern. I mean, we definitely saw she was reading, but I do think that, you know, there is some diligence we need to do to ensure that there was, she had the questions that was responding to questions that was actually being presented.
I'm not her having the questions, per se she might have, but I'm looking at the sync of how the questions were being asked and the answers in which she looked down. So she's looking at something. I couldn't agree on that she's looking down at something. So how will she know what to look at if she didn't already know the questions?
The only closing comment that I would make, which is entirely unbiased, is that notes are actually not prohibited in the interview process,
book bags and all types of stuff. No,
they're not prohibited. Oh, they're not prohibited. Not private, no. And to
me, it would probably be smart to have some notes. And, you know, in our interviews, throughout all our interviews upstairs, you know, they had no pass out, and they was referring to some of their stuff up there.
There was the charter. I have the information on the organization, yeah, well, I
don't want to discourage anyone, exactly point blank, you know that's you know, she came in. We can rate her, but we should not discourage anyone publicly, because we don't know what it was. Yes
through the Chair, Mr. Chair, because these are all public hearings, even in personnel committees, we asked the same questions every time. All right, and so I can go back in August when you had the first Secretary meet. The questions are there, right?
Yeah, public meeting. All you have to do is watch it and take notes,
and we're leaving as that at this point, it was a very good interview.
I'll see if mr.. Zacharias is also Thank you. Applause.
Just a second from last ones, they look like they're going relatively, yeah and absolutely members of the public, we thank you for your patience and being a part of this process. This is a highly important interviews that we're doing so that we can move this board forward, and so we thank you for your patience and and your indulgence here you
I get by My car.
Got it. Boss, where we going go? Bria,
where'd you say? Sandia,
let's go down the Cambria is fine.
Cement Experience.
No
church. I
because the
this board was very, very efficient in a questioning and we are way ahead of time. Two candidates are not here yet, but we can go back to public comment, and until the candidates get here, we can walk and chew bubble gum.
Yeah, thank you. Mr. Chair, so we have next mr.. Anita Williams, Miss Tara Brown and minister Eric plus.
Hello, everyone. Hello, good afternoon. Well, I like to start off speaking about as the deputy chief was speaking about laws and regulations, and everyone should comply to them. No one should be exempt from doing a job period in whatever position you have, you hold in you you the chief. Over 2000 people. I'm talking about chief white, Chief Warfield. And I constantly say this, if your house is not clean, it's up to the individual who's running it to get it in order. And I cannot speak. I spoke about it so many times about police officers stalking me for the last three and a half years, and I just found out they've been stalking me through their personal devices, their phones on a personal social media platform. So it's not going to be hard to figure out, Oh, who's behind it, and what's been going on, and I'm in the shelter, and I've been complaining about undercover officers in there violating my constitutional rights, my civil rights period, going through my stuff, illegal listening devices, tracking devices, and it's an officer in there, he works there. And then there's several officers in there acting like, yes, no, they Yes, but then they pray on people. Two officers are in there sleeping with the guests. It's not acceptable. You doing your job. You in here doing undercover work, but you preying on people like this, and this is how they are doing it. Like I keep saying, DoorDash, cash shop, all this stuff, and hardly finding all this garbage truck coming out to that facility every day to disclose that illegal stuff that they benefit off me, this is not acceptable. My life being danger every time I go out that facility because the police officers is not acceptable. Thank you very much. Thank
you very much.
Good afternoon. Good
afternoon. My name is RPA. My last name is brown. I think today, I came here today specifically to address the gentleman that was murdered during his eviction. And I heard Commissioner, I think, ask, you know, what role does the police play in admission? I can't speak for what happened. I know at my position, the police came. However, the police basically stood back and said, you know, digital mission, you all came out here and hit him, and this is where we're going with it. And you know, there were times where they were trying to break people up, but at the end of the day, nobody got killed and nobody got hurt by the police. Now I will say I can't speak for a bailiff went out there. I'm still trying to find that out, but what I do know is somebody not being able to afford their home should not lead to them being healed. That's the bottom line. I knew I was being evicted. I was fully prepared with the eviction. I declared that I was not moving and I had a home defense. And yes, I mean, it was an embarrassment to Detroit. It wasn't an embarrassment because at the second eviction in Detroit that have made national news in a two year period. Something needs to be done, and I know that it's not just Detroit Police. It has to do with a lot of steps. It was a 36 District Court. No, why wasn't the banker asked to step out when the police came in? Because at that point it was clearly there was a mental issue. And I know, I mean, I don't know she's right in his police position, other than, you know, being a police officer, he was one of my neighbor he's a good man. He has the experience. He's training officers. Why wasn't somebody out there to, I guess, escalate the situation, the police didn't
shoot him.
Thank you, ma'am, Mr. Chairman, I have a follow up question to Ms Brown, yes, do Bayless chief have intermediate weapons with his tasers, pepper spray?
No,
through the Chair. I'm not aware what they carry. In regards to
intermediate weapons, they're not under the Office of the Detroit Police Department and anywhere. No, they are not okay. They have
a license to carry a gun
and shoot unarmed people. So again, I can't speak to what I have. Now, for real, I totally agree with you. If you know your career and your skills, there's no reason for
you. Know your career
and your skills, there's no reason for you to have to read. Thank you. Thank you.
Good afternoon. Board. I do echo mrs.. Brown's concern about this interviewing process. No question was ever asked about police officer misconduct. This is the north star of this whole organization. They should know what it is. You should have asked them to explain, in their own words, what the BL PC actually exists for and its roles that it plays, but no you ask for conflicting demands, but never a conflict of interest, ethic or moral tenders. And we know this is a major issue here on this board, on existing commissioners and previous commissioners, you ask about best practices, but you know, best practices, they come from HAKO, the National Association of civilian oversight in law enforcement. We spend taxpayers money to send you guys to these conferences every year. And the number one standard, the number one priority of Naco, is independence, and yet you refuse to even acknowledge it or even practice it. What I'm what am I referring to? Last week, Chairperson was you showed us what you're really going to be as a leader, which is nothing more than all the other leaders. There were 42 resolutions honoring some people. Seven of them were police officers that violated nickel right then and there, but you went on and on with 25 more. What else do you need to do to make sure it doesn't happen? I've told people not to accept these awards. Why? Because they have nothing to do with police officer misconduct, and seven of the of the awardees were police officers, and like one of the interviewers said, complaints have almost doubled from 22 to 23 but yet we still play games
this time. Yep, let me make it clear that not one of those certificates or awards from last week came by my recommendation in terms of, you know, initiation So, but you know, we'll move on. And this is duly noted, Mr.
Chairman, let me provide some clarification certificates and that program itself was community driven. It's not anything that this board started because I view district seven residents as my supervisors and my bosses, and I can't speak for the other six districts, but the people who live in district seven are my supervisor. They're my boss. So therefore, if they say they want to honor community members, was police officers, citizens, what have you, I'm going to go through it as a legal, ethical and morals my question No. Three questions fell in line, and that's what we did, what we did. So it's not the chairman, the prior chairman, that's me honoring the wishes of the district six residents and fulfilling that. So, you know, I understand how you feel about police officers get certificates, but police officers do good work sometimes, and we have to acknowledge that and honor them to ultimately, again, that's the citizen driven program, and if you have in any fault with it, then I'll take on that role. Thank you. Some do live in Detroit, though.
Thank you. One order
the next speaker is Miss Rella, the Ann fair and Miss Regina Boyd. Miss Boyd. I
Yes,
you recognize, yes. How you doing
going today, right? My name is rekina, Boyd Benson. I'm here today because I was sent down here, and I'm trying to be so good, because right now I'm having a PTS attack right now, because my husband's Cold Case is in this office. My cousin's Cold Case is in this office. They live with me. I would have been married and with this man 25 years. Right now, my son is sitting in jail. Let y'all hold himself. He'd been a truck driver, 18 wheeler since he was 21 years old. He went from high school to college straight a suit and go to work at Leron, our grassroot every day. Never been arrested, never had a problem. And we did have a problem. What was handled so his vehicle, he driving SRT. My cousin is a retiree of Detroit police. I got several cousins from the ninth precinct. I got uncles judges. I got record reporters and everybody in my family. So I'm here today because my son had his car took by Detroit Police. Maybe April. Don't call me. I want to say April, because we we were going through the flood. We've been through hell since my husband got murdered. So we back home at the time. We back on our feet, trying to be we in return, he started the truck driver. Truck Driving. So now they say yesterday they stopped him, because he he proved when they got his car, the last time, that his car was not stolen, and that everything was paid for, that he could prove it with everything he's done. We got some stars come here Detroit, because everybody's making movies committed a crime against the Detroiters and everybody off, and it started up a uproar. No, they didn't read my son his rights yesterday,
ma'am, but we can have someone to follow up with, because they
keep us out, like, why is it that my husband's case is not even solving, and the police was the Detroit
Police? Can we get someone to
follow up? Officer nothing, and he's sitting in jail right now.
Next speaker is the last speaker. Former Commissioner William Davis,
you're recognized.
Good afternoon. Happy heard Yes, Mr. Davis, okay, I like to start out by saying I think that y'all need to look a little bit closer to the Fourth of July weekend at the mass shooting that made national news. You know, I think it's a problem when you have, do not have enough volunteer officers patrolling for a weekend for possible problems that you know you should, under normal circumstances, you should have people work through reverse seniority. You know, if you do not fully staff, that's a problem, you know, and I think you're coming down, or the department is coming down too hard on block parties, you know, there are some to get out of hand, but there's been a whole lot that's been very manageable and going on for years, and I do know sometimes it takes more than a month to get approval and authorization to have a black Is there a problem? I can hear feedback. Okay, also, so you know you need to make sure that this office is available, and perhaps some of these officers should not always be reassigned from the neighborhood police officers, because that create other problems, especially dealing with some of your neighbors to end up becoming, you know, and you know, if you have three or four calls before the shooting happened over two hours, that's a problem. Response time. Thank you.
Thank you.
We expecting some feedback from the department as it relates to the block party Commissioner Hernandez. It is any feedback from the two candidates, Mr. Brown, still out there finding
yep and so move that we go into recess until they get here.
Have to say, how much time is the recess? Oh, you can do that at the partner,
thank you. Recording stopped. Thank you,
thank you. Okay.
I can't help that. I can't Okay. So,
right? Everybody got it.
I appreciate you.
Same offer. You want some culture?
No, thank you. My treat. Thank you.
This ain't about none of that. This my plus card,
Absolutely
right there.
That's I see no so Tiffany sent me one that said 40. So online, you know some of these that have been annual that they should have already, they
said. And I asked them, How do they want it back? I don't even know how they gave it to me. I didn't like you. Said something that they I didn't get nobody put in my hand. They, I think the hotel or something.
Person who wants to put
here's what's funny?
Well, yeah, because when I went to they told me I had to give them my card. And I said, Well, I'm here, and I wasn't my card. I'm fine. But they said I had to use my car physical or something.
So I don't have a check, so we're gonna do get a cashier's check or something.
I because I asked, I'm like, why don't they just take it out of my checkout? I
Okay, however
they pay. How does that go? I didn't even know I said,
Mister Money, that
was just her question. Oh, that's fine.
That's
why you go home and see if I can find Ron. Again, I haven't written a check in a very long time,
but if expedited. I mean, what can the community I but I think it
goes okay, but if not, but I'm asking, if not, can you send them out? Okay? And if not, I can get a check and I get a cashier's check from the bank. Okay? Because those are free to if you're a members. I
mean, yeah, okay, how do you
spell your life?
I mean, again, there's nothing wrong with the club, But you gotta follow. It's
not Wednesday. Thanks.
Three. Right Oh, okay. Mr. Brown, I
said, How do I owe funny,
anything? But somebody made a mistake, but I never knew. I never even I never knew. Okay?
Okay,
so if I
don't have a chance to do it tomorrow, I can have to even go too late.
Okay.
Oh, okay. Well, I work for ceasefire, so I'm either in here, in the building or at the health department.
Hello.
Okay, that's cool. I was helping you once they came back.
Okay. Oh, really. Thank you so much.
Welcome. So I'll leave it with Mr. Brown. I'll let him know. Okay,
excuse me, commissioners, I just gotta call councilman's office. They're listening to all of our conversations because all of our mics are on right now. So if we're going to continue our private conversations, we have to turn off our mics. It would do something with them. I don't know what to do. I don't know how to turn it off. Anyone in the room can hear you. They listen to everything you say. That was from councilman, um, they probably
just heard me talking to mister.
They said no, but what we're talking about now, informally,
audio said during the reset, well,
well, I'm just telling you Council, I'll tell you I don't even know the lady ma'am call from Council. Person drew Hall's office
in the room. Can hear you. Um, here's what we hear in the room.
Yolanda Lockett called me and told me the mics are
on too. Why should? Why should we? Why should they hear it? But noone else here? This is
Yeah, but we recess.
They're in recess. We're not close. Okay, so if you don't want people to hear we have to empty the room.
Whatever those green lights are on, they can record. We'll
fix that next week.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, we're gonna come back. I'm checking one more time somebody
Thank you. Yeah, hey, Mr. Brown,
yeah, we can't never be in these type of
what time they scheduled.
Members had her Martha Oh, did she? Oh, wow. He said that she was angling or somewhere she needed help. And I responded and said, Well, I want me to sit next to your pastor. In a few minutes, I'll tell him to write you a check
for recess. I think he said attendance reset. That's
why I was like,
I It's passed.
I didn't,
I didn't, I didn't set the timer.
They're waiting on the rest of the interview. So her at recess right
now. How you right? I need caffeine. I need,
yeah, that's the problem. That's
it's caffeine in Mountain. Oh, a lot
more than, pretty much, the only reason I have to drink it,
trying to stay away chief investigators not sitting
here with his mouth. He's on his way. He
was not six o'clock. Well, we right now our bishop,
he said, Now if you
understand that
don't want to do this to have your head go back, because then your mouth will open and you'll start
professional. Want to
do is sit up straight, fold your arms and slowly, let your head go down.
I don't know who's in two right now, I have to ask the DC over there.
We have to purchase the next week
for that.
Me
all better than Yeah,
next time you get early, yeah, overlapping, haven't just seen us appointment with Six.
All these might next week,
our I was always kicking.
We we just reschedule? Reschedule? Our
scores will be
how you want to do it.
Do we wait it out? Okay?
Conversation,
it does. No, yeah, I else.
Yeah, that's fair as well. All right,
send it to
can you make a motion to that executive?
Yeah, you put it. Put it on a record.
Commissioner mark. I can you get Commissioner Bernard thinks she's, well, she's, she getting some chips. I can see her right there, right there.
Commissioner banks exports excused. Absent Commissioner Bill acts for an excused. Absent Commissioner Burton, Commissioner Carter ask for an excused. Absent Commissioner Moore, present Commissioner Hernandez,
present
Commissioner press here.
Introduction, we don't have duty, okay, thank you. All right, what's your pleasure? Commissioner, thank
you, sir. So just again, awareness for for the audience and for my colleagues on the board, it seems that we will not have the additional two candidates present here in a timely manner, based on how the schedules are, were set by city HR, which is out of our control. What we what I recommend that we do, and I'm happy to make a motion on it, is that we actually reschedule the two remaining candidates for next week, and subsequently, the rationale would be that we would actually take the scoring of those who are present today and next week. So you must have interviewed all five candidates for you to be able to submit your rating. What I will call out is it seems Commissioner Burton has exited and not submitted his rating. So I just want to note that for the record, because if we don't have those ratings today right now, we won't be able to track them for next week as well. So I'm very happy to make a motion if one is necessary based on our parliamentarian
The concern I have as parliamentarian is I don't know, under what policy one can stop commissioners from raiding candidates. If you're going to take away someone's rights, then you generally need something that ahead of time, that lets people know you're not going to be able to participate in this process. Now, if this board is going to adopt the motion to that effect, then all is good. But without that, the committee cannot make that policy. They can recommend that policy to the board, and if the board concurs, then you're covered. Am I being clear? Yes, if I'm a Commissioner, if I'm a Commissioner on this board, you can't tell me. I can't rate somebody who is applying for a position. You can't you just can't tell me that. If there's a policy about it, then we're fine. I hope that makes sense.
Any other Yes,
Mr. Chairman, I think we can ask Commissioner Burton for his ratings. He didn't know that they were being collected. All we had to do was ask him, and we can get them. Or certainly, Mr. Brown can.
Well, I think this is about Commissioner Burton is talking about when that you have ratings that took place today and next week, there's going to be ratings. So it could be an equal plan. Feel right, you know? So I
could, I Yes, I would just be very cautious about accepting ratings from individuals who were not here to interview the candidates. I mean that that just goes against a variety of different things.
Does HR have a policy about this?
We can find out, because
if they have a policy about it, then you're covered.
Well, just to be sorry, Mr. Chair, to be clear, my understood your advisement was, in absence of a motion of policy would be needed in order to set the parameters on whose ratings would be accepted. But if a motion was thereby passed today by the quorum that is present, then that would suffice. Yes, sir. Okay, well, I think we just passed. Okay,
so I'll make a motion that we reschedule the two remaining candidates, and I'll actually list their names, Preston factories and Lydia, Garnier, Barlow, Jameson for one week from today, pending their availability, and subsequently that are that the ratings we use are from those who Interview all five candidates today and next week, including Commissioner Burton, since he did rate them today,
second motion
made by Commissioner Hernandez to To reschedule the interviews for mr.. Zacharias and for Miss Jamison for next week, and accepting the rainies of all commissioners who voted and
all five candidates who
for all black candidates, and being able to continue on with the same rating system for next week is that suffice
discussion,
any discussion, just
real quickly. Commissioner Hernandez, so all of us right now, you want us to rate them in all, like 10 categories, the five that are on our sheet, and the other four that you mentioned, that would be nine categories. And then we just turn those in. We can turn those in today, correct,
chair, correct. And that would actually be on the five HR questions that we're going to rate them. I'm sorry, it would be the five HR questions that we're providing a rating. Oh, we're waiting. That's correct. Gotcha, you can certainly based on the additional questions that commissioners asked. You can certainly allocate them to provided I allocated them to the notes under the relevant category. Okay,
any further discussion slides,
and give them to you just they have
to be turned in today, though. Yes, they do. Excuse me. Sorry. They don't have to be turned in today. Can they be turned in next week?
Your pleasure, sir, yeah,
that's a quick
question, Mr. Chairman. So if the other two candidates don't show up next week or we can't schedule them, so these, the three candidates that we interviewed today will be the ones we're choosing from. Is that correct?
Not sure we've made a motion to that effect to address that concern.
So is there a contingency plan that we can put together? I'm just asking. It's
a great question. I'm just not sure that we can make a motion based on a contingency, even though I do appreciate it,
it'd be at the pleasure of the board. All right, so there's no more discussion. There being no more discussion.
No, I just mentioned you vote on the motion,
all in favor? Say, aye, anyone opposed? Say, No, the motion is carried. Oh no. What is your pleasure?
Move to dismiss. Adjourned.
Excuse me. Thank you. I'm hungry. Yes, there's no announcements. Let me put her glasses on.
Any new business,
any new business.
Just quickly, I just get to see the notification that commissioners are talking to their microphones about money orders or cash and checks in between breaks. So can we please limit our conversations in recess? That's all. Thank you, Mister Chair. I'm just saying I don't know I was somebody just said that the microphones are hot. So I'm just saying, Yeah,
absolutely. And, and I expect, when we go into, uh, breaks, you know, that that that these mics be muted. I don't know who was called, you know, and so I expect the staff to make sure that they are muted, you know, period, point blank, the new business is that that, that I have, is that Commissioner Bernard and myself have met with the department, as relates to and not just the department, but the city law department, as it relates to the legal monitors and the so that happened on on March 2, and We still have position that that those legal monitors were, you know, treated unfairly, you know, and we expect, you know, that the law department is going to do what they're going to do, but we denounce the actions that was taken with those Legal monitors. And so I just want to be absolutely on record to say that you know that legal monitors have a constitutional right in this city, and that we're going to continue to dig into this situation and support the citizens right to protest, and we support the citizens to be treated fairly, you know, and so a letter has been sent to the law department today as relates to our feelings towards that, and I know that outside of that, some other investigations taking place as relates to what happened there. So I just want to make that absolutely clear. Go ahead.
Thank you. We have sent a letter to to the to Corporation Council, Conrad ballot, and also to Chief white that in part response to what Congresswoman Rashida Talib raised with us and other civil rights and civil liberties organizations, asking that the five tickets issued to legal observers with the hats on and stuff be dismissed. The chairperson today requested a meeting with Corporation Council and the department regarding the tickets corporate I mean, it appeared that Chief Hayes represented the department, and we represented the board. He did most of the talking, and very eloquently, I might add. And as a result of that, the law department weighed in as well, man by the name of Drake and the young woman who was with him, Baker.
Baker,
I mean, not Greg. Baker, right. I'm sorry, so and they were not going to budge. We pointed out the constitutional issues, their right to assemble, their right to take pictures, their right to walk in. I mean, these tickets and the letter that that I authored, and that will be on the website tonight, by tomorrow, because everyone's left now, so you can read it for yourself, but it calls into question what they did. And we, we believe that was unfair, unconstitutional, and really just because of what I know as a lawyer, every, each of these police contacts, when you're issued a ticket directly like that, in your name, that's the police contact. And those police contacts can be, can be used against you for job applications, things like that. Well, you had 10 police contacts, you know, all that kind of stuff. So the letter will be up, and we'll see how Corporation Council mallet and how the chief responds, because these we weren't we're talking directly to the two of them today. We were talking to their staff people. So pull up the letter, you'll be able to see it by tomorrow.
Thank you so much. Mr. Warfield,
thank you. Chair. To the Chair, I just wanted to follow up on the issue that came up at our last meeting as it relates to the FOIA request, our staff have put in eight hours so far toward the request of fulfilling the FOIA. We have another 22 hours to go, just so the board knows those that information has to be pulled, and then it has to be meticulously redacted. And we have one administrative person that's assigned to do that, and so they are currently still working on that. And just wanted to give you an update as we as was requested. Thank
you so much. If there's enough, nothing further what it's your pleasure.
I'm gonna support motion may by Commissioner, Bernard, supported by Commissioner moorall in favor say yes. And when a polls. The motion carries. The meeting is adjourned.
