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WKAR News has obtained emails sent between East Lansing Police Chief Jen Brown and City Manager Robert Belleman in the immediate aftermath of the chief making comments that some groups labeled racist.
They show the police chief underwent media training after making the comments and strategized with a PR firm on the city's response.
Brown has faced calls to resign after saying in September that East Lansing had a “disproportionate number of minorities come into the community and commit crimes” when asked by local media to explain why the department used force against a higher percentage of Black individuals than Census data shows East Lansing's population is made up of.
That includes multiple incidents during Michigan State University’s welcome week in August, when the department used a taser and pepper spray, according to a report obtained by WKAR News in October.
Brown has apologized for “unintentionally offending members of the community.”
The city has been met with lawsuits after Brown named two individuals in a pre-trial news release who were pepper sprayed by officers during the incidents and released footage from officer-worn body cameras but not security camera footage from nearby businesses that painted a different picture. The charges against both individuals named in the press release have been dropped.
Brown could face a formal complaint from the East Lansing Independent Police Oversight Commission as soon as Wednesday for violating the department’s policy for releasing identifying information.
“If possible, we need to start controlling the narrative with more of our statistics, more positive information and more testimonials."Jen Brown, in an email to Robert Belleman and John Sellek on Oct. 5, 2025
The emails, released by the city through a Freedom of Information Act request, span Sept. 29 to Oct. 7, the week the city was first dealing with the fallout of Brown’s comments, including calls for her to resign.
They paint a picture of a police chief frustrated by negative media coverage of her department.
Brown says in one such email that “the media is giving attention to the things they want to.”
“If possible, we need to start controlling the narrative with more of our statistics, more positive information and more testimonials,” Brown said.
Attached to that email is a message Brown received from a community member praising the department on behalf of a “silent majority” of residents who the community member says support how Brown has responded to “frivolous complaints” about the department.
Another attachment describes an officer who was looking into a report of a stolen vehicle offering to drive the vehicle owner filing the report to work and calling the next day to let them know there were no updates.
“It let me know that my case didn’t just become another in the stack and was forgotten,” the community member wrote through the department’s online compliment form. “He probably doesn’t even realize how much he eased my mind with that follow up call the next day.”
The emails show Harbor Strategic Public Affairs Chief Strategist and CEO John Sellek advising Brown.
In one email, Sellek highlighted a report that officers with the East Lansing Police Department use force less often than the national average across all encounters with the public.
East Lansing officers reportedly used force in 0.37% of all police contacts with the public during 2024, which is lower than the national average of 1.5% of contacts.
“Funny how this didn’t get attention,” Sellek said. “We will think about how to get this out.”
Sellek recommended that Brown ask any reporters approaching her in public to contact the city’s communications director, who he advised to deny at least one such request for comment.
He said in an email Monday afternoon that Harbor Strategic was hired in 2024 to provide "general public relations support services for the city as a whole, across any and all issues."
"Effective next week, I do not want our Records team emailing our weekly reports to media. They can access the reports online."Jen Brown, in an email to Robert Belleman and John Sellek on Oct. 3, 2025
The department is also taking steps to change how statistics are reported.
Brown instructed the department’s records team to stop emailing weekly case and summary reports to media outlets after a records employee inadvertently sent reports to media that Brown says were not intended for the public.
Instead, media would access the weekly reports on the department’s website.
Belleman recommended addressing “why are we changing this process now and will it look like we are attempting to avoid/hide something.”
Brown described it, in a revised draft of the email meant to be sent to news outlets, as “the first step toward streamlining our reporting process and strengthening transparency with our community.”
Separately, the department stopped publishing monthly reports on the use of force on its website in July. The monthly reports had been published since 2021.
The department had previously stopped including the names of officers in the reports for April through July to comply with the collective bargaining agreement between the city and its police union.
But the report for August sent to members of the East Lansing Independent Police Oversight Commission included the names of officers, which Brown told commission members made it confidential.
“Yes, I am aware the reports have names,” Brown wrote to commission members. “As a reminder, the ordinance does not allow this report to be made public. I am hopeful that a new ordinance will allow for consistent, clear procedures.”
The department later released the report, with officer names redacted, to WKAR News through a Freedom of Information Act request, but has not published it or subsequent reports on its website.
Belleman has said he supports Brown continuing as chief, citing a need to minimize turnover and calling her remarks a “learning opportunity.”
The East Lansing Independent Police Oversight Commission, which has called for Brown to resign, will consider a resolution this week rejecting Belleman’s defense, saying it “reflects a troubling tolerance for conduct inconsistent with the city’s stated values of equity, inclusion and public accountability.”
Commission Chair Ernest Conerly emailed Brown to express his concern that her apology didn’t represent accountability.
“We deserve an honest reckoning with the racial bias in your words, accountability for the harm they cause and visible steps towards change,” Conerly said in the email. “Without that, your words ring hollow, your leadership loses credibility and the trust that should exist between a community and law enforcement is further broken.”
Conerly requested that Brown send her availability for a “serious conversation” about the impact of her comments.
Brown said she is “always willing to have a serious and respectful conversation about these concerns and how we can move forward together,” but added that she would be out of office from Oct. 10 through Oct. 20 and unavailable the weekend of Oct. 25.
Commission Vice Chair Kath Edsall said during a City Council meeting last month that Brown’s comments “show a chief absolutely unable to lead a force in a city like East Lansing.”
“It is possible that with deep reflection and years of reading, writing and serious anti-racist capacity building, she could get to a place of understanding the harm she has caused,” Edsall said. “But she is not there, and in these critical times, we don’t have the luxury to wait for her to do the necessary work.”
The emails obtained by WKAR News show Brown planned to attend two media training workshops hosted by ViKSTORY Media covering topics such as “what makes a good PIO & why that matters (it’s not about the media!)” and “the power of your response: don’t turn a simple story into a negative one."
Brown declined a request for comment by email Monday morning.
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