LANSING, Mich. (WXYZ) — A package of bills designed to rein in rogue police officers from finding work in other police departments sailed through a senate committee Thursday, and is now one step closer to becoming law.
“This is about building trust not just between police and the communities they serve,” said State Senator Jeremy Moss (D-Southfield), "but building trust between the police and their departments.”
Moss has fought for years to strengthen the rules governing how police in Michigan can move between departments and says the legislation will stop rogue cops from polluting other agencies.
“For the bad actors in each police department, they’re on notice that their behavior will be subject to accountability,” Moss said.
If signed by the governor, the bills would allow the Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standards, or MCOLES, to set standards for department background checks.
The bills would also require departments to fully disclose why an officer left and whether they were ever under investigation during their final year of employment.
The bills would also give the state greater authority to revoke a law enforcement license and would provide MCOLES a 90-day window to revoke an officer’s license if it was activated in error.
During the hearing, State Senator Sarah Anthony read directly from Channel 7’s stories over the last year, listing example after example of problem cops the bills are designed to stop.
Examples include officers deemed to be untruthful, a Detroit officer seen punching a citizen in the face, a Highland Park officer found to have improperly tased a homeless man, an Oakland County Sheriff’s deputy caught buying narcotics on duty and using racist language and officers accused of harassment by multiple women or engaging in sexual acts or sexting with women they’d pulled over.
The legislation enjoyed broad support from organizations that don’t always agree, from police chiefs in Detroit and Grand Rapids to the ACLU, the mother of Breonna Taylor and the chair of the Detroit Board of Police Commissioners.
“There are a small pocket of rogue cops who are doing the wrong things that need to be held accountable and should not be wearing the badge,” said Commissioner Darryl Woods.
But the bills were not supported by the state’s two biggest police unions: the Fraternal Order of Police and the Police Officers Association of Michigan were absent from the senate hearing.
Chris Swanson, the Sheriff of Genessee County who testified in support of the bills, offered an explanation for why neither group endorsed the legislation.
“Sheriffs and chiefs run the police departments, and we’re not always going to see eye to eye,” Swanson said.
“But when something goes sideways, the media and the public don’t ask to talk to the unions. They ask to talk to the leaders that you elect, and that you appoint through mayors and city council.”
Contact 7 Investigator Ross Jones at ross.jones@wxyz.com or at (248) 827-9466.
