In a continued effort to mitigate the use of force by the East Lansing Police Department, the police oversight commission of the ELPD met on April 5 to discuss the questions and issues with Captain Chad Pride that continue to be a problem within the department.
The use of force has been a conversation in the commission since the shooting of DeAnthony VanAtten in April of 2022 by the ELPD.
Pride was in attendance at the meeting. He presented a letter from police Chief Kim Johnson that asked the commissioners to examine the policy and procedures for use of force when it comes to civil disorders.
Commissioner Robin Etchison said later in the meeting that he would rather have a deep dive into the policies of handling the use of force towards those in crisis than the use of force in civil disorders and that police are too quick to pull out their firearms on people in crisis.
"A person in crisis, the last thing they need to see is a bunch of police officers standing in front of them with their weapons drawn,” Etchison said.
Pride invited the members of the commission to come ride with officers and attend training to understand what it takes for an officer to use force during an interaction.
However, commission vice chair Chris Root said members were invited over a year ago, and these sit-ins have still not been set up.
Commissioner Amanda Morgan said she would like to see this training, especially when it comes to the social worker at the ELPD whom Morgan believes needs more training to work with those in crisis.
There is only one social worker at the police department, which Lansing resident Ash Meadow voiced concerns about during public comment.
Meadow found problems with the fact that the social worker only worked in the daytime, unable to help in situations of dealing with crisis during the nighttime. They said in a January 2023 report, all of the mental health-related interactions with the police occurred without a social worker.
Morgan said she agreed with Meadow, examining how one social worker would be required in crisis services without multiple staff and not many social workers want a job where they have to work in dangerous situations. Morgan said she thought that the EPLD is setting up the social worker “to fail.”
Another line of questioning toward Pride came from commissioner Kath Edsall, who brought up debate over an issue on March 8. Edsall said she heard from families of students at the East Lansing High School that when the police were investigating a social media post that threatened violence at the school, causing the school to shut down for the day, there were guns pointed at the children who were being investigated.
However, Pride said the issue stemmed from the Ingham Regional Special Response Team and their efforts of investigating, not directly the ELPD. He said he would check into the situation, but there had not been reports of guns pulled on students, which would have to be reported as part of the investigation.
City Council member and commission liaison Dana Watson said some of the issues with reporting this use of force that may have happened on March 8 stems from the questionability of when ELPD officers should turn on and off their body cams during active threats.
Commissioner Edsall asked why body cams are not always on, wanting to be proactive instead of retroactive in the protection of both the officers and those interacting with them in potentially harmful situations.
Pride responded that it would be “unrealistic” to have them on for a 12-hour shift, as many turn them off throughout the day, citing bathroom breaks, and the cameras only being turned on when they are called to service and must activate manually. Pride said it does have to be reported as to why they turned off the camera.
Pride further explained that it would be a large amount of data and money spent on those body cams to have them on full-time.
The commission will meet again on Wednesday, May 3.
