DPD Lessons
The Detroit Police Department has learned nothing over the last five years; or the last several decades.
The moral outrage that emerged after the police killing of George Floyd was met almost immediately by increased police violence. In city after city, police used excessive force and escalated tensions. Reports of police misbehavior uniformly concluded that generally the police made things worse, causing injury, trauma, and death. Detroit was no exception. The police brutally attacked demonstrators, and when demonstrators attempted to hold them accountable, the police doubled down, charging organizers with conspiracy.
Ultimately the demonstrators prevailed in court, winning a million dollar settlement.
But as the police response to recent demonstrations has shown, the DPD is accelerating its aggressive police tactics. Just last month we witnessed intense police actions against protestors calling for an end to war and violence. We witnessed similar tactics deployed against people enjoying peaceful community celebrations.
Often deployed in riot gear and using toxic tactics, protests and parties are forcefully disbanded. On any given evening, a ride down Jefferson Avenue shows an intense police presence, with signs telling people to keep quiet and move on.
Recently, as people gathered to publicly demand President Joe Biden stop sending military aid to Israel and promote a cease fire in Gaza, police responded with force against them. An incident between an officer and one of the demonstrators has been widely circulated as we watch police lieutenant Brandon Cole harass a young woman and tell her to “go back to Mexico.” What emerged from the exchange was not only the racist perspectives of the cop, but the fact that the police had been following her movements and apparently monitoring communications of demonstrators.
What has received much less publicity has been the attacks on leadership of demonstrations and increasingly assaults on legal observers, there to protect the rights of demonstrators.
These aggressive tactics directed toward people engaging in public spaces are no doubt partly behind the extraordinary number of complaints lodged against the department. And they provide a sharp contrast to police behavior in the most recent high profile events in the city, the NFL draft and the celebration of the opening of the Central Train Station. Media accounts focus on the mood of the crowds, but they should be looking more closely at the conduct of the police.
No one should be surprised by the obvious racist behavior and use of force by the DPD. They have resisted every single effort to hold them accountable. When Coleman A. Young became mayor, he pledged to reshape the police department. Young thought that by making the police look more like the community, he would create a different police culture.
Instead, his efforts at affirmative action were resisted at every turn by the police unions and by the Detroit Police Officers Association. They filed lawsuit after lawsuit to undermine Young’s efforts to create a more diverse police force.
The same forces fought successfully against residency requirements for police and other public employees. As Mayor Young said in 1984, “If you do not believe in this city enough to live in it, you should not work for it.”
The DPD has never supported any effort to reform or limit its power. Like much of the country, it is becoming more open with its willingness to bully and intimidate people working for change. The DPD and the Mayor who supports them are resisting accountability to the community. They are becoming increasingly dangerous.
We need to demand that those who are responsible for protecting the rights of all of us act on behalf of the whole community. And we need to accelerate our efforts to create communities that can depend on each other for true safety and freedom.