Federal lawmakers will be in Detroit Tuesday as part of an effort to improve relationships between community members and police.
The policing strategies working group meeting, led by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, Virginia Republican, and ranking member John Conyers Jr., Michigan Democrat, comes less than a month after Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch visited Detroit to engage law enforcement and the community.
“All Americans want to see an end to senseless violence against police officers and citizens, and we in Congress are continuing to look for ways on how best to address this serious problem at the federal level to set the appropriate tone,” said Mr. Goodlatte. “Much of the hard work needed to solve this problem must happen at the local level.”
Lawmakers expect to meet with local officials, including the Wayne County prosecutor and sheriff, representatives from the Police Officers Association of Michigan and the American Civil Liberties Union, to discuss how they are addressing issues between law enforcement and community members as well as what challenges remain. Officials hope to devise federal policy solutions that can address some of the problems at the local level.
James Tignanelli, president of the Police Officers Association of Michigan, said one key problem is the difficulty in hiring and retaining police officers. He said many officers have to pay out of their own pockets for 16-week police academy training and have only a year to find a law enforcement job before their certification expires.
As a result, he said, officers often accept the first jobs they find — jobs they may leave after only a year or two when they are able to get positions with their preferred agencies.
“We’re having a problem hiring good people,” Mr. Tignanelli said. “We have guys failing field training. We have people becoming police officers because it’s a job, not because it’s what they want to do.”
Criticism that police departments aren’t reflective of the communities they serve could be addressed in part by providing more help for officers from poorer communities where residents might not have the resources to foot the bill for the academy training, Mr. Tignanelli said.
“I think if you hire the right person for that community and who wants to be in that community, you’ll find the community is more comfortable with them and they are more comfortable with the community,” he said.
Over the summer, as police departments across the country reeled from a series of attacks on law enforcement officers, Detroit police had their own scare. The department arrested four people who posted messages on social media that included threats against officers.
More than a month later, prosecutors are still investigating the postings to determine if criminal charges will be filed, said Wayne County prosecutors’ spokeswoman Maria Miller.
County prosecutor Kym Worthy plans to speak about police body cameras and law enforcement policies on officer-involved shootings but does not plan to speak about the threat cases, her spokeswoman said.
• Andrea Noble can be reached at anoble@washingtontimes.com.
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