dan
Hey friends: At 3 p.m. I’ll live-blog the Detroit Board of Police Commissioners (BOPC) meeting for #DETdocumenters. 🧵 #civicDET #detroit #michigan
Mar 30, 2023 at 6:46pmWeb
Show threaddanMar 30, 2023

Detroit Documenters media partners: BridgeDetroit, Chalkbeat Detroit, Detroit Free Press, Detroit Metro Times, Michigan Radio, Outlier Media, Planet Detroit, WDET 101.9 FM and WXYZ Channel 7. #civicDET

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You can copy and adapt the content I made in this live blog — but please give credit. Just include this text:

This work by civicDetroitDan is licensed via CC BY 4.0. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ • https://civicdetroitdan.dignacio.org/

Deed - Attribution 4.0 International - Creative Commons

Show threaddanMar 30, 2023
👀 The BOPC is now involved in several scandals (more in this thread) including the inspector general’s ongoing investigation into the board’s citizen complaint backlog. Today, the board is expected to hear from the city’s Law Department. #civicDET
Show threaddanMar 30, 2023

📄 More notes, materials on Documenters.org: https://detroit.documenters.org/assignments/board-of-police-commissioners-6032/

ℹ️ Join this meeting online, by phone or in person: https://detroitmi.gov/events/board-police-commissioners-meeting-march-30-2023

📎 Agenda wasn’t posted on the meeting page, but we got it through a BOPC email. #civicDET

Board of Police Commissioners | Documenters.org

Join meeting on Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81981390642

Documenters.org
Show threaddanMar 30, 2023
⏮ The last BOPC meeting was documented by Alex Klaus and Damien Benson: https://detroit.documenters.org/assignments/board-of-police-commissioners-5977/ #civicDET
Board of Police Commissioners | Documenters.org

Join meeting on Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81981390642

Documenters.org
Show threaddanMar 30, 2023
🗞 Detroit’s police oversight board is being investigated for an alleged payroll scam. Staffmembers Lawrence Akbar and Melanie White were placed on paid leave. The Detroit Police Department is leading the investigations. George Hunter: https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/detroit-city/2023/03/27/detroit-police-multiple-criminal-administrative-investigations-commissioners-oversight-board/70051707007/ #civicDET
'Multiple' investigations underway into Detroit police oversight board

Sources say the probes are focused on whether the board paid "ghost employees" and allegations that board officials shredded documents to cover it up.

The Detroit News
Show threaddanMar 30, 2023
Detroit police commissioners unanimously approved the promotion of an officer accused by three women of domestic abuse. Several commissioners say they didn’t know the allegations before approving DPD’s recommendation to promote him. Ross Jones: https://www.wxyz.com/news/local-news/investigations/dpd-watchdogs-didnt-know-they-promoted-cop-accused-repeatedly-of-domestic-abuse #civicDET
DPD watchdogs ‘didn’t know’ they promoted cop accused repeatedly of domestic abuse

Detroit police commissioners say they didn’t know that a detective they unanimously promoted had been accused by three different women of domestic abuse throughout his career.

WXYZ 7 Action News Detroit
Show threaddanMar 30, 2023
Last month, Detroit’s inspector general seized two years of records from the Board of Police Commissioners related to its backlog of citizen complaint investigations. The investigation is ongoing. George Hunter: https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/detroit-city/2023/02/23/detroit-inspector-general-seizes-police-complaint-records-office-of-chief-investigator/69937345007/ #civicDET
Detroit IG seizes police complaint records

Detroit's Inspector General Ellen Ha Thursday seized files covering two years of investigations into complaints against Detroit police officers from the Office of the Chief Investigator.

The Detroit News
Show threaddanMar 30, 2023
❓ The Board of Police Commissioners oversees the Detroit Police Department (DPD). It decides DPD’s budget and policies, review complaints, and discipline officers. The board meets weekly. Seven commissioners are elected, four are mayor-appointed. https://detroitmi.gov/government/boards/board-police-commissioners #civicDET
Board of Police Commissioners | City of Detroit

  The Board of Police of Commissioners was created in 1974 by City Charter, which was adopted by the vote of the people. The Charter vests broad supervisory authority over the Police Department in the eleven-member civilian Board of Police Commissioners.                  

City of Detroit
Show threaddanMar 30, 2023

Your Board of Police Commissioners (and the district each commissioner represents):

• Bryan Ferguson, chair (1)
• Annie Holt, vice chair (at-large)
• Linda Bernard (2)
• Cedric Banks (3)
• Willie Bell (4)
• Willie Burton (5)
• Lisa Carter (6)
• Ricardo Moore (7)
• Jesus Hernandez (at-large)
• Jim Holley (at-large)
• QuanTez Pressley (at-large) #civicDET

Show threaddanMar 30, 2023

🚩 Posts will be edited to add corrections and image descriptions after the meeting.

Something inaccurate? Email [email protected] with the subject “Correction Request.”

See you soon! #civicDET

Show threaddanMar 30, 2023
The online meeting is open. #civicDET
Show threaddanMar 30, 2023
⌚️ At 3 p.m., the Detroit Board of Police Commissioners meeting begins! Chair Ferguson calls the meeting to order, and a police chaplain named Anthony leads an invocation prayer. #civicDET
Show threaddanMar 30, 2023
Chair Ferguson “humbly asks” the audience to wait five minutes for a court reporter to show up, but apparently they’ve shown up. #civicDET
Show threaddanMar 30, 2023
Chair Ferguson reads his press release regarding the ongoing investigations into the Board of Police Commissioners. Here’s the press release: #civicDET
Show threaddanMar 30, 2023
Ferguson: “This is difficult. This is one of the hardest things I had to do for this board. … I have staked my entire career on transparency. I will not sacrifice any of that for no one.” #civicDET
Show threaddanMar 30, 2023
Chair Ferguson says the board’s administrative team is launching a “community contact collection campaign,” starting today, to increase community engagement. “Because when I go around to community meetings, they don’t even know what we do.” #civicDET
Show threaddanMar 30, 2023
👤 Roll call! Commissioners Ferguson, Holt, Bell, Bernard, Hernandez, Holley and Banks are present. I didn’t hear Burton. Secretary Victoria Shah says Carter, Moore and Pressley submitted excused absences. #civicDET
Show threaddanMar 30, 2023
Parliamentarian Jackson says Chair Ferguson must have the agenda and previous meeting’s minutes approved before he proceeds with his remarks. The board approves both. #civicDET
Show threaddanMar 30, 2023
A deputy chief named Charleston is sitting in for DPD Chief James White. It was difficult to hear his name because the online meeting audio has a bad echo. #civicDET
Show threaddanMar 30, 2023
📝 At 3:13 p.m., the board proceeds to the Chief of Police Report, presented by the deputy chief, who is reading all the crime statistics really quickly. DPD’s drag racing detail has been conducting about two dozen investigations and impounded some vehicles. #civicDET