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Detroit Police Oversight Commission Launches Dashboard Making Complaints Data Public

Online Niel November 21, 2024

Detroit — The Detroit Board of Police Commissioners launched an online Wednesday Police Accountability Dashboard which provides information about complaints that have been filed against Detroit police officers.

The dashboard uses data from the council’s Office of the Chief Investigator, which reviews non-criminal complaints against Detroit police officers, usually involving behavioral or procedural issues, with the department’s Professional Standards or Internal Affairs Section, which handles allegations of criminal behavior by officers. .

“This is significant progress in our mission to promote transparency and accountability,” board chairman Darryl Woods said during a live press conference. “This dashboard serves as a window into the civilian oversight process, providing our community with a comprehensive view of complaints made against law enforcement and the findings of these investigations.”

According to the scoreboard, which provides data from 2012, 121 complaints were submitted to OCI since January, 44 of which were closed. The dashboard provides aggregated information about the race and gender of officers and complainants, along with the charges and whether the charges were sustained.

Although that granular data is not available on the dashboard for individual years, there is a link to the city’s open data portal, where more detailed information can be accessed.

Wednesday’s release came after more than a decade of controversy involving the OCI dating back to 2010, while the Detroit Police Department was still under three federal consent decrees that were in effect from 2003-2013. U.S. District Judge Julian Abele Cook, Jr. fined the city $1,000 per day due to the OCI complaint delays.

In 2011, the board voted to remove Chief Investigator Tina Orr after she was found to have misrepresented legal problems she had in Virginia.

Investigators from the Detroit Office of the Inspector General in February 2023 records seized from OCIwhile Acting Chief Investigator Lawrence Akbar and Acting Council Secretary Melanie White were escorted from their jobs and suspended.

Following the raid, then Inspector General Ellen Ha in February released a report which found that hundreds of outstanding cases at the OCI were improperly closed without being investigated. White filed a lawsuit in April, claiming her efforts to clean up the backlog were “sabotaged” by co-workers.

Detroit Police Assistant Chief Michael Parish said he welcomed the scoreboard.

“The Police Accountability Dashboard is an important achievement for transparency and accountability within the Detroit Police Department,” Parish said in a statement. “I applaud the Board of Police Commissioners for their work on this very important project and look forward to a continued partnership to help this city thrive.”

During Wednesday’s press conference, community activist and former police commissioner William Davis called the dashboard “a big step in the right direction.”

“One of the biggest concerns I hear from people is the need for more information and more transparency,” Davis said.

Woods, the police commission chairman, said he hopes the scoreboard will strengthen police-community relations.

“Transparency is the cornerstone of building trust between the community and our public safety institutions,” Woods said. “This tool reflects our commitment to making data accessible and understandable.”

QuanTez Pressley, chair of the board’s Citizen Complaints Committee, said the release of the dashboard “is a sign that we’ve listened to the community, which has been asking for more transparency.

“Our hope is that this dashboard will foster a greater sense of trust between the board and the community, as well as encourage constructive dialogue that ensures our oversight processes are more open to public scrutiny and participation,” Pressley said.

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