SAGINAW, MI – The “Back the Blue” proposition that went before Saginaw voters on the Nov. 5 general election ballot was approved with 69.81 percent of the vote.

A total of 10,735 votes were cast in favor of the proposal, while 4,642 residents voted against it.

The proposal directs city officials to reaffirm their support for the city’s firefighters and police officers, pledging to continue training and equipping them, providing them and their families with life insurance benefits and promoting websites, among other initiatives of crowdfunding for the families of officers or firefighters who are injured in the line of duty.

The proposal would have no impact on tax bills and is intended to counter the “police defunding” movement that emerged in the wake of the protests that followed the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer in May 2020.

The proposal on the Saginaw ballot is as follows:

“The Charter of the City of Saginaw, Michigan, shall be amended by adding a new Chapter XIX, Section 1, to state that “The proposed Back the Blue Public Safety Priority Charter City Amendment, if adopted, would better honor, protect and would offer casualty compensation for firefighters and police officers, emergency medical technicians and other first responders, and their families.”

The Saginaw City Council voted 6-3 in August to put the proposal on the Nov. 5 ballot after an organization, Back the Blue, obtained the 1,897 signatures from residents needed for the city to consider the petition.

Related: Here’s the buzz about Back the Blue, Saginaw’s vote you may not know about

Back the Blue was unable to obtain a similar proposal on Grand Rapids ballots for this election.

Saginaw attorney Gregory C. Schmid, a member of the Michigan group Back the Blue, said the proposal is meant to advise city officials rather than impose a mandate.

“There is nothing in it that compels them (Saginaw leaders) to take any action; it’s not the kind of thing we have to try to enforce in court,” Schmid said. “The intent of this is to show that people want the governing body of the city to be on the side of the police, not the criminals, and do the things suggested in the body (proposal) and other things to focus on future police recruitment and retention . , as opposed to treating them as second-class citizens, which some cities do.”

Retired Saginaw firefighter and current Saginaw County Democratic Party Chairwoman Aileen Pettinger voiced her opposition to the proposal after initially hearing about it, citing her concerns about Back the Blue’s ties to conservative groups like America First Works.

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