The city of East Lansing will undertake an independent review of police actions, policies and procedures related to public encounters.
City Council members voted after midnight Wednesday without discussion to authorize the city attorney to retain outside counsel who will provide confidential recommendations.
The review will include the department’s handling of multiple incidents during Michigan State University’s welcome week in August, which has become the source of public outcry at several recent City Council meetings.
A report on the use of force by officers with the East Lansing Police Department in August that was obtained by WKAR News shows a taser and pepper spray were used during some of the incidents on Aug. 24.
The department has not published the report on its website, as they have done for the monthly reports since 2021.
Members of the city’s independent police oversight commission were told the report they received is confidential because it includes the names of officers, which were redacted in the document received by WKAR News through a Freedom of Information Act request.
The department had previously stopped including the names of officers in the reports to comply with the collective bargaining agreement with the city’s police union but began including them again in August’s report.
The department faced pressure during Tuesday’s City Council meeting to begin releasing the reports again.
Aria Morey said releasing the reports allows the public to identify trends, raise concerns and celebrate progress.
“Transparency is not a luxury,” Morey said. “It is the foundation of trust between law enforcement and the community. When residents can see and understand how force is used, it encourages accountability and fosters informed dialog, not suspicion.”
The report shows officers used force against a disproportionate number of Black individuals.
Police Chief Jen Brown told WLNS that East Lansing had a “disproportionate number of minorities come into the community and commit crimes.”
While she has apologized for “unintentionally offending members of the community,” several groups – including the East Lansing Independent Police Oversight Commission, the Human Rights Commission, the Lansing NAACP and the Women’s Center of Greater Lansing – have called for the chief to resign or be fired.
The department has also been criticized for naming two individuals in a pre-trial press release that included footage from officer-worn body cameras but not nearby security cameras that provided a clearer view of the incident.
The charges against the two individuals named in the press release have since been dropped.
Lansing NAACP President Harold Pope, who has called for Brown’s resignation, said the department must go further by removing the arrest record and issuing a retraction and correction to the press release.
Brown received a new wave of support and criticisms during Tuesday night’s meeting, which featured nearly two hours of public comment.
One commenter described not feeling safe walking through downtown at night and called for Council members to “take back” the city. Another compared criticisms of Brown’s comments to the Salem witch trials.
Critics of Brown called for a boycott of East Lansing businesses until the police chief resigns or is fired and called the city a “pseudo shielded sundown town.”
Some local business owners spoke at previous meetings to describe a downtown where violence is a regular occurrence.
Rebecca Kasen is the executive director of the Women’s Center of Greater Lansing. While the group has called for Brown’s resignation, Kasen said local businesses should also be held accountable.
“They are over serving, they are serving underage patrons and they’re creating conditions that fuel chaos,” Kasen said. “It is hypocritical to complain about disorder while contributing to it.”
Kath Edsall is the vice chair of the police oversight commission, which has also called for Brown’s resignation. She compared downtown East Lansing to the Jim Crow South.
“Is this the downtown this council envisions? With Jen Brown at the helm, it appears this is the downtown we have and will continue to have,” Edsall said. “It’s past time for her to go.”
Council members voted after 11 pm Tuesday to limit the power of the police oversight commission.
City Manager Robert Belleman presented Council members with an updated proposal that he said limits the changes to those required under the collective bargaining agreement with the city’s police union.
It was not immediately clear which provisions are included in the version of the ordinance adopted Tuesday night.
Councilmember Mark Meadows said the proposal seems to be in line with a request made by members of the commission in a memo to the City Council, which recognizes that some changes are required but argued that the amendments proposed in August went beyond that scope.
Commission members said in the memo that sections like the ones eliminating the commission’s ability to carry out investigations and removing names from public reports do not have a basis in the collective bargaining agreement.
Councilmember Dana Watson motioned to postpone consideration of the ordinance until after members of the public and the commission could review the updated amendments, but the motion failed in a 2-3 vote.
“This ordinance deserves a piece-by-piece discussion and approval, not just a flat let’s just go with this, or let’s just go with this one,” Watson said.
Council members expressed hope that additional changes suggested by commission members, meant to strengthen the commission, will be considered at future meetings.
