EAST LANSING, MI - On Tuesday, October 6, the East Lansing City Council held a meeting that ended in a unanimous approval of the new two-part de-escalation and use-of-force policies for the East Lansing City Police Department (ELCPD).
The department was required to separate the two based on the "Stanford Model" of policing and reintroduced key wording like "sanctity of life," WLNS reported.
During public comment, Vice Chair of the Police Oversight Committee Kath Edsall and three other oversight committee members reiterated their concerns regarding the policies actually being put in place.
"This chief has made it clear that policies are just suggestions,” Edsall said. “Furthermore, having participated in the discussions leading to this policy, I assure you that there was no buy-in to the concept of real de-escalation on behalf of (Police Chief Jennifer Brown) or her command staff."
Chief Brown was not present during the meeting. The proposal was brought to the council by Assistant Chief Matt Kreft. During the discussion, all sides were asked to make sure all parties involved were still on board with the plan based on things said by oversight committee members during the public comment portion.
Kreft assured council that all are on board and continued to lay out the key changes and training exercises that will be added to the required list for all officers.
He noted that a two-part policy is "above and beyond" and not common within most departments in the state of Michigan. Council Member Steve Whalen stressed his concern that a yes vote from him would set a precedent for all future police policy changes that would need to be run by the council.
The city's attorney assured that would not be the case, but Mayor Pro Tem Chuck Grigsby said the topic is irrelevant, and the policies are too important to not pass.
"This is a great step,” Grigsby said. “I don’t care what anyone has to say. I think that this is an example of taking some raw, sensitive social issues and put it into pragmatic policy in a way that then we can build from that framework." The policy still needs to be signed by Chief Brown. While she has not publicly given her opinion on the matter, Kreft said she was only waiting for the council's approval and will sign the document.
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