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East Lansing Police Chief Jen Brown will introduce a package of ordinances next month meant to address a downtown some say has grown increasingly rowdy.
Potential changes include restoring a ban on loitering and again allowing officers to pull people over for having loud vehicle exhausts.
The city previously had a ban on loitering but removed it from the disorderly conduct ordinance in 2020.
The Downtown Management Board has asked City Council members to reinstate a loitering ban at the encouragement of downtown business owners.
Some downtown residents have expressed concern about the amount of noise coming from vehicles in parking garages and driving down the road.
City Council members voted last year to prohibit pretextual traffic stops, including those stemming from a loud exhaust.
The changes to the loitering and traffic stop ordinances were both meant in part to address racial biases in policing.
The new push comes as some residents have criticized the department’s handling of multiple incidents in August, alleging the use of excessive force and misleading narratives.
The city is facing lawsuits stemming from the incidents and City Council members voted last month to undertake an independent review of the police department’s procedures.
Brown has faced calls to resign, and the East Lansing Independent Police Oversight Commission filed complaints against two officers despite a city attorney urging them to not.
Commission members say they observed downtown late at night on the weekend of Halloween and didn’t see the violence some business owners and residents have described as a regular occurrence.
Michelle VanSumeren said she served in the military and worked in maximum-security prisons before moving downtown. She said immediate changes are needed.
“It is a war zone downtown. It is unsafe downtown,” VanSumeren said. “I would prefer to be in a maximum-security prison. I felt safer.”
Councilmember Erik Altmann, who was elected mayor during Tuesday night’s City Council meeting, said in September that downtown having a negative reputation could scare residents and visitors away.
“I am concerned that East Lansing has become a place where people come to cause trouble. That’s a hard reputation to shake,” Altmann said. “I’m not quite sure how it happened, but it looks to me like it’s happened, and we have to figure out how to break out of that.”
Other proposals expected in the package include the installation of additional cameras and lights and increased staffing for the police department.
The proposed changes are expected to be discussed during the East Lansing City Council's meeting on Dec. 9.
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