FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich. (WXYZ) — Shooting targets in the Farmington Hills Police Department depicting Black men have drawn criticism. Community members voiced concerns at a city council meeting on Monday evening.
Tuesday, 7 Action News spoke with a city councilman and the police chief on next steps.
“The fact is we took them down, and I want them permanently taken down and not ever used again in our community," City Councilman Michael Bridges told 7 Action News on Tuesday.
Back in April, a Boy Scout troop took photos of targets. The photos surfaced recently and eventually drummed up attention.
Farmington Hills Police Department Chief Jeff King apologized at the city council meeting, but he also said a mischaracterization has been made. He said there were also white men depicted as targets and that those made up the majority of the targets.
King said the department is looking at this situation as an "opportunity to strengthen not only our... to strengthen and review our training and our practices and to further strengthen our community and address their concerns."
Thursday, Southfield-based attorney Dionne Webster-Cox held a press conference about the targets, which 7 Action News attended.
At Monday's city council meeting, Mayor Vicki Barnett stated, "Nobody who had that press conference, nor did the press call any of us to get an opinion, a comment, answer a question for us to investigate, and instead it hit the rumor mill."
7 Action News did call and speak with the city's public information officer during that press conference. She referred us to the police chief. That day, a call to the chief was placed, along with text messages and an email. 7 Action News forwarded that email to the public information officer for help reaching the chief. We did not hear back.
The next day, Friday, the police department emailed a press release to the newsroom on that matter.
Bridges had also attended that Thursday press conference.
On Tuesday, Bridges told 7 Action News, “Part of my efforts with being on the council for the last 14 years, I’ve been very active on the issue of making sure our workforce is diverse and secondly, that we have police equity in our policing.”
The councilman said he’s been calling on the city to hire a diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) officer. King said that decision would come from city administration.
“That is a city-wide initiative. We are very committed to our DEI efforts in our city, working closely with our HR director and our city administration," the chief explained. “On behalf of the department, we are one of the most diverse departments around. Our diversity is really outstanding.”
The chief said the targets are in line with the Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standards (MCOLES). However, he said a comprehensive review is underway.
