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Members of the East Lansing Independent Police Oversight Commission will consider filing a formal complaint against Police Chief Jen Brown during a meeting Wednesday night.
A draft of the complaint alleges that Brown violated the East Lansing Police Department’s policy for releasing identifying information.
The city is facing lawsuits after Brown included the names of two arrested individuals in a pre-trial news release. The charges against both individuals named in the press release have since been dropped by city prosecutors.
The two men who were named in the press release, Lonnie Smith, 21, and Mason Woods, 22, are also alleging officers with the East Lansing Police Department used excessive force, deploying pepper spray within inches of their faces without warning.
Commission members will consider a resolution during Wednesday’s meeting requesting the East Lansing Police Department develop a formal policy for the deployment of pepper spray.
Brown included footage from officer-worn body cameras in the press release, but not security camera footage from nearby businesses that painted a different picture of the interaction.
The incident is one of several the East Lansing Police Department responded to during Michigan State University’s “Welcome Week.”
That weekend, the department responded to 52 calls and made 10 arrests, eight of which were not MSU students.
Officers also used a taser on a man who allegedly brandished a knife.
The department’s use of force became an issue again in October after Brown told local media that East Lansing used force against Black individuals at a higher rate because the city had a “disproportionate number of minorities come into the community and commit crimes.”
The comment sparked calls for the chief to resign, including from the East Lansing Independent Police Oversight Commission.
City Manager Robert Belleman has said he remains supportive of Brown continuing as police chief, arguing the comments can be a learning opportunity for her and that frequent changes in leadership would make it more difficult to implement long-term changes within the department.
Members of the East Lansing Independent Police Oversight Commission will consider a resolution Wednesday to reject Belleman’s defense of Brown, saying it “reflects a troubling tolerance for conduct inconsistent with the city’s stated values of equity, inclusion and public accountability.”
Councilmember Mark Meadows said he and other City Council members expect Brown to speak more carefully and will be monitoring her future statements.
Emails obtained by WKAR News through a Freedom of Information Act request show Brown planned to attend two media training workshops days after making the comments and wants the department to “start controlling the narrative with more of our statistics, more positive information and more testimonials.”
East Lansing Independent Police Oversight Commission Chair Ernest Conerly called the media training part of a “coverup.”
“That is, in my view, scandalous,” Conerly said. “It is inappropriate. It smells of people who have a disregard for people who don’t look like them.”
“What that says to me is that it is in your heart, that the things you said you truly believe, and so now you want to figure out how to make it sound good the next time you have to speak in public,” Conerly said.
Conerly said the emails demonstrate why commission members will consider rejecting Belleman’s apology.
“It is not a teachable moment, because she doesn’t really want to learn,” Conerly said. “Instead of enrolling in a media course, you should have enrolled in a bias course.”
Kath Edsall is the commission’s vice chair. She said the chief misidentified the issue.
“Instead of moving in the direction of doing the work to get it right, she’s doing the work to change the narrative, to deflect, to hide,” Edsall said.
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