Multicultural Fraternities
Multicultural
fraternities
at the University of Michigan
have also reported incidents of
over-policing at their tailgates
and parties. Before the 2017
Michigan v. Michigan State
game, Lambda Theta Phi, a
Latin fraternity, and Kappa
Alpha Psi, a historically Black
fraternity,
were
issued
six
minor citations. The citations
were
for
disturbing
public
peace, creating a nuisance,
obstructing
police
and
contributing to noise.
That night, the police also
forcibly entered the Lambda
Theta Phi house after citing
the host with disturbance of
the public peace. At the time,
The Daily reported that the
police report stated they had
noticed a group of about eight
people surrounding a Latino
male and dragging him into
the house. Officers then forced
their way into the house.
The Daily reported that all
10 predominantly white IFC
fraternities surveyed reported
no police presence or citations
at their house tailgates that day.
Two years after reporting
these incidents, members of
multicultural
fraternities
say they are still facing over-
policing. Music, Theatre &
Dance junior Jack Williams
III said in his one semester as
a member of Alpha Phi Alpha,
he noticed the fraternity taking
extra precautions when hosting
parties.
According
to
Williams,
hosts
of
Alpha
Phi
Alpha
parties typically take several
preventative measures to avoid
contact with the police by
reaching out to their neighbors
and letting them know that
there will be an event.
“Establishing
that
relationship
with
your
neighbors really goes a long
way
because
unfortunately,
the reality of the situation is,
you see a bunch of Black people
partying … they’re going to call
the cops, right?” Williams said.
“So, you just have to establish
an extra credit.”
Williams
said
he
gets
frustrated,
especially
with
the
knowledge
that
other
predominantly
white
fraternities do not have to deal
with these additional hurdles.
“(This) would never happen
at a white frat house,” Williams
said.
“Because
we’ve
had
parties at a white frat house
before. We typically have done
parties with Alpha Delta Phi
at their house. Never had a
problem.”
As a student at the University,
Williams said he felt anxious
with Ann Arbor’s large police
presence.
“The cops are just heavy
all the time,” Williams said.
“Every time I’m driving past,
like, even if I’m not doing
anything wrong, I’m like … ‘are
both hands on the wheel? Did I
stop at that stop light?’ And so,
just having that added layer of
pressure all the time … I hope
I don’t get pulled over and get
arrested.”
Blind Pig Incident
In the summer of 2018,
the
AAPD
once
again
faced
allegations
of
racial
discrimination
after
AAPD
was
dispatched
to
resolve
an altercation at The Blind
Pig bar. Ann Arbor resident
David
Bigham
released
a
video on June 24, showing the
confrontation between officers
and three unidentified Black
men outside the bar.
On July 3, the AAPD released
its own dash cam video of the
incident. The footage shows
the incident began when a
white man motioning the cop
car toward a group of three
Black men. Upon exiting the
car, one of the cops pulled a
gun on one of the three men
while yelling profanities at
him and demanding he to get
down. Then, the man who had
originally gestured the cops
over walked toward the Black
man on the floor and is seen
choking him and then shoving
him toward the pavement.
In a July 2018 statement,
then-Interim
Police
Chief
Robert
Pfannes
said
the
video Bigham released was
misleading and did not reveal
the full scenario.
“The white male fighting in
the video is not an Ann Arbor
police officer nor a police officer
anywhere,” Pfannes said. “He
was also handcuffed when a
backup officer arrived, but that
is not seen in the narrow focus
of the private video.”
The AAPD also launched an
internal investigation to review
the incident. During the City
Council meeting on July 2, City
Administrator Howard Lazarus
said the investigation would be
diligent and in-depth.
“What I’ve asked the chief
to do is to proceed fairly,
equitably, but as quickly as
he can,” Lazarus said at the
meeting.
In
a
previous
interview
with The Daily, Bigham noted
his video doesn’t tell the full
story as the dash cam does, but
that it still revealed the racial
profiling by the AAPD.
In a recent interview with
The Daily, Bigham stated he
was never contacted by AAPD
to serve as a witness either
by phone or email. However,
he did have a conversation
with Pfannes on June 28, 2018
during a community outreach
meeting and said he found
the police chief’s comments
disturbing.
“My general takeaway (was)
that
it’s
about
protecting
downtown. That’s what it says
to me. It says that policing in
Ann Arbor is about protecting
downtown,” Bigham said. “Part
of
protecting
downtown
is
making not only people of color,
but especially people of color
and people who are unsavory,
as uncomfortable as possible
when they are downtown in
order to maximize, sort of, the
psychological, you know, the
effects of feeling unwelcome.”
Looking Forward
AAPD
has
worked
to
improve its relationship with
the community, according to
the department’s new chief
Michael Cox. Cox has said he
plans to prioritize community
policing.
In
an
interview
with The Daily, Cox noted
cultivating greater trust in the
community is one way to build
stronger
relationships
with
Ann Arbor residents.
“If you want to have a good
relationship
with
anyone,
you have to have some kind
of trust and you have to
build
that
usually
through
communication
and
talking.
… That’s something different,
but interacting with the public
in ways that don’t have to do
with normal police work is
important and builds trust,”
Cox said. “It helps us, you know,
figure out what the community
wants. It helps the officers get
to know the community, and
the community gets to know
the officers.”
Cox emphasized how greater
communication
among
the
department
and
community
could benefit both sides when
tensions arise.
come in contact with police
disproportionate to other kids,”
Jackson said. “I know that
they’re super vulnerable. They
need help. Well, lots of times,
that’s not necessarily the sort
of encounters that they have
with police right now. So that
was the driving force for me,
to think about how those kids
are treated and how we can do
better by them.”
The
committee
only
emerged
several
years
after
Rosser’s
death,
and
was the product of months
of
collaboration
between
community
activists
and
elected town officials.
Several
months
after
Rosser’s
death,
the
city’s
Human Rights Commission
spent $200,000 to contract
a
report
from
Hillard
Heintze, a risk management
firm
specializing
in
law
enforcement
consulting.
While the report deemed
AAPD to be a “professional
organization
staffed
with
committed
officers,”
it
encouraged the city to develop
a
practice
of
community
policing, namely by way of
an
independent
oversight
commission.
“When significant policing
incidents occur, from the Aura
Rosser shooting to officer-
involved
vehicle
accidents,
they become discussion points
in the overall community
dialogue,” the report read.
“However, the AAPD’s voice
—
regarding
facts,
action
and outcomes — is often
absent from such discussion,
because
the
department
does not routinely engage in
community meetings or other
forums
regarding
policing
actions.”
By
surveying
the
Ann
Arbor population, another key
finding of the Hillard Heintze
report was the desire for
transparency in police policies
and practices, a sentiment that
existed prior to the Rosser’s
death.
“Many also seek to have
a
stronger
understanding
of police practices, internal
investigations
and
their
outcomes,” the report said.
“Some community members
and
their
representatives
said the lack of transparency
and responsiveness to their
issues
generates
concern
over whether the police are
accountable
to
the
public
and, in turn, how that affects
police behavior.”
In the months and years
following
Rosser’s
death,
Ann Arborites pushed for
the creation of an oversight
commission
staffed
by
members of the community.
One community member
named
Dwight
Wilson,
who serves as chair of the
Human Rights Commission
Subcommittee
on
Police
Oversight, volunteered more
than 2,000 hours studying
police oversight boards. He
used his own funds to travel
to California, New York and
Washington, D.C. to speak
with
local
officials
and
oversight commissioners in
other cities. Later, Wilson
served on the task force
formed by the city to evaluate
the possibility of forming a
police oversight commission
for Ann Arbor.
In a speech to City Council
in October 2018, Wilson was
vocal about the need to move
forward with an oversight
commission, posing it as “the
last shot we’re going to get for
the next 20 or 30 years to do
things right.”
To a mixture of laughter
and applause from those in
attendance, Wilson summed
up his message to city officials:
“The
last
thing
that
I
want to really see is double-
watered-down Kool-Aid being
passed off as being Scotch,” he
said.
In a written statement to
The Daily, Wilson said while
blame cannot be assigned
fully on either side, the new
commission ensures police-
related
deaths
or
other
incidents will be investigated
fully and fairly.
“It may be true that no one
should be happier than the
majority of the police force
who genuinely try to do what
is honorable,” Wilson wrote.
“I have no idea how many
officers cross the line, but
relatives and friends who are
law enforcement officers are
clear that they know of no
force, including their own,
where 100% of the officers
walk the straight line. Their
reputations
are
protected
when the disreputable are
held accountable. As for the
victims of killings, brutality
and
disrespect,
police
oversight is our best hope.”
Ann
Arbor
Mayor
Christopher
Taylor
said
the process of building the
oversight commission was one
of cooperation between city
government
and
residents.
Not only were community
members
like
Wilson
instrumental in pushing for
the commission’s formation,
but elected officials likewise
pushed for new police training
and reforms.
“I would characterize us
as working together on this,”
Taylor said. “After the death
of Ms. Rosser, which everyone
internally
and
externally
views as a tragedy, we in
City Hall and the community
wanted to make sure that our
officers had the training they
need. They were well-trained
before, we wanted to make
sure that these areas were
again emphasized, because
these are issues of growing
importance
and
growing
vulnerability.”
As for the reasons behind
the push for augmented police
training
and
department
transparency, Taylor said he
had no doubt as to what set
those events in motion.
“The conversation around
policing, the Human Rights
Commission
request
for
an
external
review,
the
receipt of that review, the
recommendations
of
that
review, I think those were
absolutely
conducted
in
response to the death of Ms.
Rosser,” Taylor said.
And
now
that
the
commission is up and running,
Taylor said a more effective
conduit for communication
has been created between
police
and
the
larger
community.
“What the Police Oversight
Commission has been doing
for the past couple of months
is learning,” Taylor said. “You
have civilians whose job it is to
serve as an interface between
the community and the police
department, to oversee the
police department by way
of introducing a community
voice into the policies and
practices
of
the
police
department,
understanding
what the police do and why
they do it, communicating
that to the community and
understanding the impact and
consequences and perception
of those policies and practices
and communicating that back
to the police.”
But since its formation,
Jackson said, the commission
has done much more. On
a given day, Jackson and
her
fellow
commissioners
may meet with police or
community members or share
ideas
with
commissioners
from
similar
oversight
boards across the country.
Jackson
herself
has
even
reached out to several student
groups
at
the
University,
including the Black Student
Psychological
Association,
of which Jackson is a former
member, to determine how
interactions between students
and police can be aided by the
commission.
One group supportive of
the push towards transparent
policing
is
the
Student
Community
of
Progressive
Empowerment,
a
student
organization advocating for
the rights of undocumented
students
and
community
members. LSA senior Barbara
Diaz and LSA junior Sandra
Perez
are
both
members
of SCOPE and look at the
oversight commissions that
have been created in Ann
Arbor and elsewhere as a
means for improvements to
be made in the relationship
between
undocumented
people and local police.
“I think there’s always
going to be that underlying
anxiety,”
Perez
said.
“Whenever
you
see,
you
know, someone in a uniform
— because it is what they
do, or what they’re required
to do is abide by the laws of
the government, the laws
of local law enforcement,
there’s always going to be
that
concern
among
the
undocumented community.”
But Diaz said in many cases,
resolving the issue of mistrust
between
undocumented
communities and local police
requires
resolving
more
foundational
issues
than
police reform.
“When you’re talking about
immigrant
communities,
undocumented communities
and
feeling
safe
with
trusting public government
institutions such as the police,
I think it really does come
down to immigration reform
as a whole,” Diaz said. “Just
because, at the end of the day
you are still undocumented.
From growing up, you’re not
inclined to even go to the
hospital, let alone go seek help
from the police, just because
you are already hyper-aware
that something could happen
to you if they ask too many
questions.”
And as the head of the
newly
formed
oversight
commission, the need to build
a sense of trust between law
enforcement and communities
of color is something Lisa
Jackson is acutely aware of.
“I know police officers,
and I understand there are
some
really
good
police
officers,” Jackson said. “I
also understand that African
Americans in this community
don’t feel like we’re treated
exactly the same. We don’t
have that expectation. And
so I know that there’s a
place somewhere for us to do
better.”
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Friday, November 8, 2019 — 3A
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From Page 1A
“After the death of Ms. Rosser,
we
emphasized
training
in
connection with mental illness,
bias
and
de-escalation.
We
also at the time did a process
obtaining body cameras, and
that process was accelerated.
We (are) now on the second
or third generation of body
cameras, just recently. That’s an
important part of maintaining
public confidence.”
In February 2016, James
Baird was appointed as police
chief. In 2018, Baird announced
he would step down from
his position in Ann Arbor.
Currently, Baird serves as the
Chief of the Breckenridge Police
Department in Breckenridge,
Colorado.
In an email interview with
The Daily, Baird noted reforms
implemented throughout his
tenure, including body camera
implementation, de-escalation
and implicit bias training and a
national accreditation process.
He discussed how Rosser’s
death
inevitably
impacted
the actions he took during
his tenure, specifically in the
realm of supporting officers
while simultaneously building
community trust.
“I
suppose
it
would
be
inevitable
that
an
incident
of
this
magnitude
would
have an effect on how I ran
the
department,
especially
considering how rarely lethal
force had been necessary in Ann
Arbor, primarily balancing the
competing priorities of building
trust in the community with
the need to support the officers
doing an incredibly difficult
job under increasingly trying
circumstances,” Baird wrote.
Taylor also discussed the
new police chief, Michael Cox.
Cox held multiple roles in the
Boston
Police
Department
before his appointment as Chief
of Ann Arbor Police.
“He has a long and important
history. He has emphasized his
desire to expand community
policing, and make sure that
officers are engaged with all
members of the community,”
Taylor said of Cox.
During his selection process,
Cox disclosed that, in 1995,
he had been the victim of an
assault and subsequent cover-
up by fellow officers. Cox was
beaten while undercover, after
officers believed he was a Black
gang member suspected for a
fatal shooting. Cox has since
said he is “very aware of bad
policing.”
In an interview with The
Daily,
Cox
discussed
his
commitment
to
community
policing,
and
specifically
getting individuals to interact
with police in order to build
trust.
“The goal is really just to get
the officers out into the public
so we can build some more
trust,” Cox said. “We’re going
out and revitalizing those and
meeting people and introducing
the officers to them.”
In response to Rosser’s death
in 2014, student activists from
various organizations began to
take action. Notably, University
Read more at
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