A coalition of Detroit activists is denouncing a proposed city ordinance that would require some police footage to be made public, saying the measure would still protect officers who engage in misconduct.
A divided Detroit Public Health and Safety Committee held a public hearing Monday on an ordinance that would set rules for how the Detroit Police Department releases video involving serious use of force, including when officers fire their weapons or cause “great bodily harm.” If approved by the full Detroit City Council, police would have up to 30 days to release video on a publicly accessible website.
But activists said the ordinance is riddled with exemptions that would give police plenty of opportunities to deny a video’s release. For example, the footage can be withheld if it involves a joint task force, violates the police union contract, or if city lawyers decide it could hurt Detroit in a civil lawsuit. The proposal also excludes any video shielded under Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act and permits redactions, giving city officials broad discretion to decide what the public gets to see, activists argued at the meeting.
Jacob Smith, a member of the Detroit Alliance Against Racial and Political Repression, urged council members to strengthen the ordinance.
“It’s not even a good ordinance,” Smith said. “It has more holes than a fishing net.”
He added, “Let me be clear: We do not trust you [the police] so you need to send this ordinance back to the drawing board and come up with something that allows for less loopholes.”
Other critics said the ordinance should include alleged incidents of stop-and-frisk, racism, and sexual harassment or assault that causes less than “great bodily harm.”
Councilwoman Angela Whitfield Calloway, who drafted the video requirement, said she’s satisfied with the measure but acknowledged it may need to be amended.
“Everyone is not going to be happy with all of the ordinances we pass in the city of Detroit,” Calloway said. “I get it. But we have to start somewhere. It’s not a perfect document. Our Constitution was written in 1787 and has been amended 27 times. This is one of those documents that I do believe is ripe for amendment.”
Councilwoman Gabriela Santiago-Romero said she doesn’t support the ordinance as it’s written and believes more public input is needed.
In a letter to Calloway, the Coalition for Police Transparency and Accountability said Calloway’s version is written to protect police and city officials, not the public’s right to know. The coalition points to the numerous exemptions in the ordinance.
“These stipulations make the release of imagery pointless,” the coalition wrote. “We further object to the exclusion of CPTA from any discussions in crafting this ordinance. We shared with you a well-researched, comprehensive ordinance that would have provided greater transparency in policing. Nothing of the ordinance we provided is reflected in your version.”
Calloway, who has often cast herself as a reform-minded councilmember critical of police secrecy, claimed some of the critics aren’t happy with any changes.
“We just have regular, habitual complainers,” Calloway said. “I’m used to it.”
During the public hearing, former Detroit Police Commissioner William Davis said the ordinance “can and should be stronger,” noting that police released body-cam footage of a shooting to commissioners “in less than six hours” about five years ago. Davis also worries about the editing process before the video is released.
“When they do these edits, someone impartial needs to be in the room,” Davis said. “This still makes it easier for them to cover up and hide stuff. We could do a better job.”
Victoria Camille, who is running for a seat on the Detroit Board of Police Commissioners, said Detroit residents are entitled to unedited footage.
“Police video footage belongs to Detroiters as taxpayers, and the police department should not get a privileged seat to shape a narrative in advance of the public getting a full view of the unedited video,” Camille said. “It’s one thing to blur the faces of witnesses, but chopping up timelines and/or reducing the frame that it shows is unacceptable.”
She added, “We’ve had three people shot by DPD in the last month. This is extremely important.”
On Sunday, Detroit police shot a woman who refused to comply after a traffic stop. It was the third police-involved shooting in five weeks.
Deputy Police Chief Michael Parish responded to critics, saying the videos would only be edited to redact the faces of victims or witnesses.
Community activist Tahira Ahmad said 30 days is too long for the release of a video. She is also worried that more Black residents will be targeted as the police department hires more white suburban officers.
“We’ve seen the police department get whiter and whiter,” Ahmad said. “The people who are white are having a racial problem with Black people. If our police departments are getting more and more undiverse, then we are going to have problems, and we want you to release it faster than 30 days.”
The CPTA’s version of the ordinance would require the city to publicly release all unedited video, audio, and police reports related to any use of force or pursuit that causes or could cause injury within seven days. The city also could delay for up to 30 days, but only if prosecutors or investigators give a written public explanation citing specific legal reasons. The footage would remain permanently accessible on a website managed by the Board of Police Commissioners, not the police department.
In addition, the coalition’s proposal would require notifying families and allowing them to view the footage before it’s released to the public.
“The people of the City have an undeniable, and in some cases paramount, interest in being informed, in a timely fashion based on the most accurate information possible, about how their police department conducts its business, especially where the use of force by the police results in death of, or bodily harm to, a civilian,” the coalition wrote.