Petition for Dearborn Police Oversight Commission
The Issue
We demand a safer city for all people who are impacted by the city of Dearborn's policing practices. We demand the city of Dearborn establish an Independent Civilian Oversight Commission of the Dearborn Police Department to protect civil rights, ensure transparency, provide greater accountability, help manage risk, and support a healthy community.
Despite having a residential population that is less than 4% Black, more than half of the people arrested in Dearborn each year are Black (2009-2020, 54%). The number of Black people arrested in Dearborn annually exceeds the total Black population of Dearborn. It is clear through the Dearborn Police’s own records of arrests that there is rampant racial descrimination against the Black community. This racial violence in arrests has culminated in the murders of Janet Wilson, Kevin Matthews, Ernest Griglen Jr., and other victims not yet named. These violent outcomes are not inevitable. We demand a Civilian Oversight Commission that proactively prevents police-generated harm, and supports healing after these incidents have occurred.
The Dearborn Police Department targets Black, poor, and disabled people for criminalization and penalization. In 2019, Black people accounted for 47.7% of all non-parking citations. Over half of these citations were for nonviolent plate violations, which indicate inability to afford to document a vehicle. These citation types do not correspond to driving safety; between 2009-2019 more violations were issued for “no proof of/no insurance” than for all moving violations combined.
In 2020, Michigan Governor Whitmer issued executive orders 2020-47 and 2020-78 instructing police departments to stop enforcing certain plate violations. As a result of these orders, in 2020 citations to Black people dropped to 40% of all citations issued, and in 2021 this dropped again to 31%. These executive orders have been rescinded, but these numbers make it very clear that small changes to policy make a substantial impact. We demand a Civilian Oversight Commission that has the power to create and enforce these common sense, impactful policy changes.
We demand a proactive, independently determined, civilian-only unit with subpoena power, as well as the power to review and enforce the police budget. We demand that this unit is funded with no less than 5% of the total Dearborn Police budget. The commission will be created in collaboration with the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement, to ensure civilian experts can work with our community to devise an effective Commission. The Commission will receive, investigate, and resolve all civilian complaints against the Dearborn Police Department, and will have at least one investigator for every 70 police officers, or four investigators at all times, whichever is greater.
Effective civilian oversight includes the following features:
- Adequately funded: the board must be staffed by full-time positions and have adequate financial and administrative support, with funds coming from the current police budget and equalling no less than 5% of the total police budget. The budget for the oversight commission must be reviewed semi-annually and adjusted based on increases in caseloads.
- Authority: the oversight board must have adequate authority to make meaningful change, which includes but is not limited to the authority to:
- Subpoena witnesses and documents from the police department
- Review and enforce the police budget
- Review police policies and make recommendations
- Grievance mechanisms: the board must offer several accessible mechanisms for reporting cases of abuse, misconduct, and/or mistreatment by or within the police department for both city affiliates and the people at large, including the option to report anonymously.
- Independence: board members must not be appointed by the police chief and the board must not be housed within the police department
Proactive: oversight board must proactively improve policing practices, not just react to complaints - Representation: the board must include adequate representation of all of Dearborn's geographic and cultural communities, especially considering the representation of those most impacted by policing
- Transparent and accessible data analysis: the board must proactively gather and analyze police department data to make recommendations; all data and analysis must be transparent and accessible to the public. The commission will be considered a Public Body and subjected to all responsibilities for transparent and accessible meetings as required by the Open Meetings Act.
If you would like to find more ways to support the work of Accountability for Dearborn, please visit
158
The Issue
We demand a safer city for all people who are impacted by the city of Dearborn's policing practices. We demand the city of Dearborn establish an Independent Civilian Oversight Commission of the Dearborn Police Department to protect civil rights, ensure transparency, provide greater accountability, help manage risk, and support a healthy community.
Despite having a residential population that is less than 4% Black, more than half of the people arrested in Dearborn each year are Black (2009-2020, 54%). The number of Black people arrested in Dearborn annually exceeds the total Black population of Dearborn. It is clear through the Dearborn Police’s own records of arrests that there is rampant racial descrimination against the Black community. This racial violence in arrests has culminated in the murders of Janet Wilson, Kevin Matthews, Ernest Griglen Jr., and other victims not yet named. These violent outcomes are not inevitable. We demand a Civilian Oversight Commission that proactively prevents police-generated harm, and supports healing after these incidents have occurred.
The Dearborn Police Department targets Black, poor, and disabled people for criminalization and penalization. In 2019, Black people accounted for 47.7% of all non-parking citations. Over half of these citations were for nonviolent plate violations, which indicate inability to afford to document a vehicle. These citation types do not correspond to driving safety; between 2009-2019 more violations were issued for “no proof of/no insurance” than for all moving violations combined.
In 2020, Michigan Governor Whitmer issued executive orders 2020-47 and 2020-78 instructing police departments to stop enforcing certain plate violations. As a result of these orders, in 2020 citations to Black people dropped to 40% of all citations issued, and in 2021 this dropped again to 31%. These executive orders have been rescinded, but these numbers make it very clear that small changes to policy make a substantial impact. We demand a Civilian Oversight Commission that has the power to create and enforce these common sense, impactful policy changes.
We demand a proactive, independently determined, civilian-only unit with subpoena power, as well as the power to review and enforce the police budget. We demand that this unit is funded with no less than 5% of the total Dearborn Police budget. The commission will be created in collaboration with the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement, to ensure civilian experts can work with our community to devise an effective Commission. The Commission will receive, investigate, and resolve all civilian complaints against the Dearborn Police Department, and will have at least one investigator for every 70 police officers, or four investigators at all times, whichever is greater.
Effective civilian oversight includes the following features:
- Adequately funded: the board must be staffed by full-time positions and have adequate financial and administrative support, with funds coming from the current police budget and equalling no less than 5% of the total police budget. The budget for the oversight commission must be reviewed semi-annually and adjusted based on increases in caseloads.
- Authority: the oversight board must have adequate authority to make meaningful change, which includes but is not limited to the authority to:
- Subpoena witnesses and documents from the police department
- Review and enforce the police budget
- Review police policies and make recommendations
- Grievance mechanisms: the board must offer several accessible mechanisms for reporting cases of abuse, misconduct, and/or mistreatment by or within the police department for both city affiliates and the people at large, including the option to report anonymously.
- Independence: board members must not be appointed by the police chief and the board must not be housed within the police department
Proactive: oversight board must proactively improve policing practices, not just react to complaints - Representation: the board must include adequate representation of all of Dearborn's geographic and cultural communities, especially considering the representation of those most impacted by policing
- Transparent and accessible data analysis: the board must proactively gather and analyze police department data to make recommendations; all data and analysis must be transparent and accessible to the public. The commission will be considered a Public Body and subjected to all responsibilities for transparent and accessible meetings as required by the Open Meetings Act.
If you would like to find more ways to support the work of Accountability for Dearborn, please visit
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Petition created on February 24, 2022