Abolish the city’s police department? One local writer says yes
A local writer is arguing for the abolishment of the Hamtramck Police Department, citing its lack of racial and ethnic minorities, the expense to the city and past lawsuits against officers for racial matters and for violence. Photo by the Hamtramck Police Department
By Charles Sercombe
An opinion article on modeldmedia.com has stirred up a heated discussion on Hamtramck social media.
The article is titled “Hamtramck does not need a police department. Replacing the majority-white police force with unarmed resident responders would be a step into the future.”
The author, Elizabeth Garrett, goes on to say that, because of the lack of racial and ethnic diversity, and past lawsuits against the department for racial matters and assaults, the city would be better off with “a civilian-led organization with unarmed first responders trained in de-escalation (community solutions workers).”
Garrett, who lives in Hamtramck, also points out that the police department is the largest expense in the city’s budget, about $4 million, and that the city is facing a financial crisis.
The department has about 40 employees, which fluctuates often as officers and detectives retire or take jobs with other departments.
The department is mostly white, with perhaps two or three African-Americans and Arab-Americans on the force.
Garret also said that the city’s relatively low crime rate, and low number of serious criminal incidents, further does not justify the expense of the department.
The call for “defunding” and even “abolishing” police departments across the nation comes at a time when there have been several high-profile cases of officers shooting unarmed black people, usually men or teen males.
That has led a number of communities to look at ways to retrain officers, or even re-organize their departments.
On the Facebook page called “I love Hamtramck,” reaction to the article was immediate.
Karen Plochinski, the moderator of the site, said not only was she opposed to the idea, but the article had several factual errors.
“I believe this to be the worst article ever posted by modelD,” she said, in part.
Farooq Blake offered this: “Racism and policing are not the problem, the crime and criminals are, they’re always inverting the truth. When they say we have a huge prison population, their solution to it? Let them all out, legalize or reduce the offense and no one goes to jail. That’s how ideologues work. When you get rid of police, criminals become bolder. …”
Trudy von Linsowe called the piece a “disgusting racist article meant to divide. People are so busy trying to find something to be offended by, they should spend as much time working on being a better human being.”
Kit Parks, on the other hand, defended the article.
“I believe this is a really important perspective, especially in the wake of recent police killings of George Floyd, Hakim Littleton, Breonna Taylor, and Daunte Wright, to name a few of many. Hamtramck PD has had its own issues with racism and excessive use of force. Police often escalate conflicts rather than resolve them.”
The Review reached out to Hamtramck Police Chief Anne Moise for comment, but she declined.
Posted on April 16, 2021
6 Responses to Abolish the city’s police department? One local writer says yes
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Mark M. Koroi
April 18, 2021 at 1:55 am
This Elizabeth Garrett article is being lauded by many in the City of Hamtramck – and derided by some as well.
The central theme of dysfunction is well-taken however.
There has been a palpable absence of leadership the past several years at the Hamtramck Police Department. This has manifested itself in:
(A) a myriad of civil rights suits against the City of Hamtramck and its officers;
(B) the guilty plea of a former H.P.D. officer on federal civil rights charges and the sentencing of that former officer slated for Monday, 4/19/2021;
(C) the spate of adverse media articles of questionable conduct from the COBRA anti-theft unit which was headquartered at the H.P.D.
Abolition of the H.P.D. may be too draconian a remedy- and many in the city are calling for the establishment of a civilian police oversight board – the Hamtramck NAACP had promoted this idea in 2009, however never gave it any serious consideration.
The City of Ann Arbor impaneled its Independent Community Police Oversight Commission in 2018 and the City of East Lansing is currently creating a similar public body to oversee its own law enforcement agency.
The enabling ordinances for both public bodies were borne of citizen concern of excessive force and police misconduct.
A non-profit organization promoting the creation and operation of such public bodies exists:
http://www.nacole.org
Mark M. Koroi
April 18, 2021 at 6:44 pm
To give one an idea regarding the ongoing cost of civil rights litigation resulting from the City of Hamtramck’s participation in the COBRA anti-theft unit, please take note that Agenda of the March 23rd, 2021 Regular Meeting of City Council contained an invoice from the Allen Bros., PLLC law firm for the defense of the Fayad vs City of Hamtramck et al federal civil rights suit for legal fees incurred from 1/15/2021 thru 2/14/2021 in the amount of $13,168.41. That action has been pending in federal court since December of 2018.
Fayad vs City of Hamtramck et al was a civil rights action against COBRA unit participants.
The now-disbanded COBRA unit had the municipalities of Ecorse, Highland Park and Hamtramck as participants.
A civilian public body overseeing such auxiliary police operations as COBRA can ensure that law enforcement abuses can be addressed promptly and corrected.
Eric
April 19, 2021 at 1:45 am
So have an unarmed civilian watchdog type presence? So then it would only take 1 criminal with a gun to kill and or rob an unlimited amount of people!?!? Sure, go right ahead, that’s one way to get people and businesses to leave the city in masses.
P. Galore
April 27, 2021 at 10:46 am
I think Elizabeth Garret is brainwashed by democrat ideologies. Get rid of the police and have all the citizens unarmed to handle the cities policing. I can tell someone has drank from the democrat punch bowl. It is not about racism or diversity it is about respect and regard for humane life. Hamtramck used to be a wonderful place to live. Hamtramck has gotten so diverse it resembles a third world country where the American values of the country we live in are gone.
P. Galore Hater
May 30, 2021 at 10:04 pm
P. Galore you racist piece of shit go back to where you came from, Europe. We don’t want you and your fellow trump supporters here. You clearly don’t understand how crime works or how diversity strengthens community. Go back to your blonde hair blue eyed fantasy land of the Dark Ages. There you can enjoy the first world nature of Feudalism. We don’t need you here on Turtle Island.
John A. Joslin
November 14, 2021 at 3:38 pm
Whoa ! Garrett offers us a super startlingly clear-eyed & long overdue look @ why we are still stuck today w/ the ultra-expensive, dangerously armed, and clumsily unfit-for-purpose institution called ‘police departments !
Which is nuttier/ sillier…that we love to pretend these police departments actually prevent crime, when in REALITY we know they show up ( maybe… ) AFTER the fact to take a report, OR that not a soul, from politicians to police chiefs & pundits, seems to have the faintest idea WHY they ever popped up in the 1st damn place ?!
And not just in Hamtramck… uh… but if I remember right , we’ve got multiply overlapping, triple-duplicated versions of this going on 24/7 in every city, town , county, & state in the entire country ! Agents, troopers, officers, sheriffs, constables, rangers, magistrates , & deputies galore, not to mention all the different titles and ranks.
Ms. Garrett’s brilliant, must-read article completely demolishes the notion that all these publicly funded uniforms were dreamt up as a perpetual gift to America’s dry cleaning industry !