The forum opened with the panel members describing how they view ELPD.

“I see a cop and I clinch up,” Black Law Students Association President Myles Baker said. “There’s definitely profiling.”

Baker said he has also met police officers who he thought were great.

Several other members of the panel shared Baker’s views on ELPD.

MSU Department of English professor Jeff Wray said he has been stopped numerous times across the country. 

He said the most distressing incident occurred in New Jersey, when he was pulled out of his car by police and interrogated for approximately 10 minutes, just to be told to slow down.

Wray said his two boys, ages 21 and 22, have been stopped in East Lansing by police at an “astounding rate.”

He mentioned unsatisfactory confrontations his children have had with law enforcement, which included being questioned just for playing basketball with several of their black friends.

Wray said he told his two kids to ask their white friends how many times they get stopped by police. He said white people don’t get stopped “randomly” as often as black people, but if you ask a black person, it is highly likely they will have stories related to police officers possibly profiling them.

Derrell Slaughter of the ACLU also said he has been pulled over by ELPD and said it was because he felt ELPD thought he didn’t fit “a profile.”

East Lansing resident Mike Vasievich had a different view on ELPD.

“All my personal interactions with officers have always been first class,” Vasievich said.

Murphy then responded to the comments from other members of the panel.

“There’s no reason or benefit for us to do that (profiling),” Murphy said. “There’s no extra credit for writing tickets to minorities.”

Murphy said ELPD has recently started to require that officers wear body cameras to ensure their officers are going through the correct measures to ensure safety among the community. However, there are some officers who do not wear the cameras because of limited supply.

Once a month ELPD will have a random meeting with every officer who wears a body camera to go over a day’s worth of video footage with a department supervisor, Murphy said. They then fill out a spreadsheet, where they detail every confrontation the officer has with the public while also incorporating race and gender.

Murphy said the plan is to publish those spreadsheets online so the public will have easy access to it.

The forum allowed community members to personally ask the panel questions. MSU doctoral student and Council of Graduate Students President Dee Jordan was among the people to ask questions.

Jordan referenced an incident she said still haunts her today.

Jordan said she was at a confederate flag protest she said was peaceful, but then someone threatened to bring a gun. ELPD was then called and when they arrived, Jordan approached one of the officers because she was afraid someone might actually bring a gun and cause harm to the crowd.

Jordan said she was instantly told by the officer in a loud and indignant tone, “if you’re scared, go home.” 

Jordan said the officer then turned to a white woman and asked her in a much calmer tone if everything was OK and if she felt safe.

This outraged Jordan and her comments of racial profiling and discrimination immediately were met with applause from the crowd.

Jordan said she filed a complaint against the officer, but it was concluded that the officer did nothing wrong.

This might not have been an isolated incident.

Jordan said that the officer had a “laundry list” of complaints against him and accused ELPD of protecting him and saving him of his job.

Chief Murphy responded to Jordan and told her she can come into his office at any time to go over the officer's ruling and see if he had other complaints against him.

After further debate and a few more questions, the panel made their closing statements.

“This is a good community, but we want to make it a great community,” Wray said.

Pinecrest Neighborhood Association President Ralph Monsma said he was pleased with the effects of the forum.

"I would say for East Lansing to do this (forum) and have this kind of a turnout and have this kind of a group, that is exceptional," Monsma said. "I would say that it is a step forward."