Current events have not been kind to police departments across the country. With the one year anniversary of the protest in Baltimore approaching, the call for police to be held accountable for their actions continues.

Police have had to come to grips with accusations of institutionalized racism or a perceived over-willingness to use deadly force when perhaps the situation could be defused with less mortal means. A number of shootings and incidents of police brutality have damaged the reception of the profession, regardless of the acts of individual officers and departments.

Even in East Lansing, police have not escaped the ire of activists on either side of Grand River Avenue. Because police are often viewed as a homogeneous group rather than an amalgamation of different departments with varying levels of funding and training, the lines have sometimes become blurred.

Though these accusations and a changing world have forced police departments to adapt, the core of the job still remains the same.

Holding Officers Accountable

Many criticisms aimed at police departments deal with the perceived lack of accountability of police officers, especially with more national occurrences in Ferguson, Missouri and Baltimore, Maryland.

Black Student Alliance President Myya Jones said the East Lansing Police Department shuts down parties thrown by black students faster than they would a party thrown by white students, adding that she knows instances of black students being pulled over more frequently, or individuals only being told to wear a helmet on a motorcycle if they’re black.

MSU police met with members of the BSA during an event called “Cops and Conversations” as part of a community outreach where students voiced their concerns and police were able to explain their side, explaining police procedures when it comes to force or police policies in regards to body cameras.

Jones said she appreciated outreach programs like that. However, she still took issue with police claims they did not racially profile.

“Just because you say that you’re not doing it, doesn’t mean you’re not doing it,” Jones said.

Police said often in the case of more notorious departments there lies an issue of funding and training, stressing MSU police officers have the luxury of being only a small percentage of MSU’s budget, protecting them from difficult budget cuts. They also said officers need a high level of training and skill required.

Individuals with a past of racial incidents are exempt from being hired to the department.

“That’s definitely not what we’re looking for at MSU,” MSU police Capt. Kelly Roudebush said.

Civilian Concerns of Safety

One solution to these issues has been to equip officers on duty with body cameras. The video can then be stored and accessed for evidence as well as help in cases where an officer is accused of wrongdoing.

“I don’t do anything I need to worry about,” MSU police Sgt. Michael Aguilera said.

Body cameras are in widespread use this semester with MSU police after the department paid $110,000 to obtain them. Officers are required to wear them on duty, although Roudebush said officers typically did not wear them in the office.

With any change in procedure, especially when police forces are used to doing everything in a very specific way, there’s bound to be mistakes. However, Aguilera said it was by no means meant to be malicious.

ELPD is also set to add body cameras to be implemented in the opening months of 2016 after purchasing eight cameras. ELPD Lt. Scott Wrigglesworth said it would have been far too expensive to equip the entire department. Each one cost between $400 to $500 and the $30,000 necessary to equip every officer would have been too much.

One concern with having body cameras is the debate of how long to store the actual data. Since even one camera recording all shift requires a lot of storage space, and the associated costs, police departments have to be creative.

Currently models from both departments have the data being stored for at least a month with specific clips being cut and stored as needed, although a specific timeframe has not yet been established.

Close to home

Given that many people only deal with police during a bad situation, either they commit a crime of some sort or they are pulled over and given a speeding ticket, it can be hard to see officers as just other people doing a job.

ELPD Sgt. Andrew Bouck said after serving in the United States Marine Corps he wanted to become a police officer and wanted to keep people safe, not to ruin anyone’s fun.

“Find something you love doing and get out of bed,” he said.

While on patrol one Saturday afternoon, his mother called asking him to have a few words with his kids, who were being rowdy, and frequently got out of the vehicle to throw a football around with tailgaiters before the game against Indiana, calling it “positive community contact” and hoping to practice community policing.

He said like any profession there are people who are great at their jobs who go into it for the right reasons, and others who are poor and get in it for the wrong reasons.

“I’m responsible for the workplace around me. ... I’ve done the same job for years,” he said.

Regarding new technology officers need to deal with, he reiterated the idea that not all officers have a problem with being on camera.

“I’m perfectly fine getting videotaped,” he said. “I’ve got nothing to hide.”

Reporting Racial Profiling

ELPD and MSU police take complaints of racial profiling very seriously and encourage those who believe they have been targeted because of their race to report the incident to the respective department.

Whenever anyone has a complaint with the conduct of a police officer during something like a traffic stop, a claim can be taken to MSU police in a few different ways, MSU police Sgt. Florene McGlothian-Taylor said.

One method is to call the MSU police front desk and ask for a supervisor and the other method is to contact the Police Oversight Committee located in Owen Graduate Hall.

“(Then) it’s investigated,” she said. “We have an internal investigation.”

She said individuals who are pulled over should follow a few different guidelines — such as not arguing with police on the scene, as there are other ways to challenge the ticket or forward a complaint.

Bouck said traffic stops are some of the most dangerous things officers do, so being cooperative is very important to make sure things go smoothly.

ELPD has a similar procedure to investigating claims of racial bias.

“For sure not our police department, but I don’t think any departments in the area are hiding anything from you,” interim ELPD police chief Jeff Murphy said. “If you ever got caught doing it you would have a huge nightmare on your hands. I don’t think anybody’s going to do that, we’re for sure not going to do that, and it wouldn’t be acceptable in East Lansing.”