Detroit Board of Police Commissioners

Members and non-members have criticized the commission for alleged violations of the Michigan Open Meetings Act.

On April 4, 2019, Robert Davis brought suit against the board alleging that they had been meeting privately with upper-tier members of the Detroit Police Department regarding personnel and business contracts.

[8] On October 14, Detroit’s Office of the Inspector General found that the Board of Police Commissioners had abused its authority by delegating hiring power to its secretary, Gregory Hicks.

The meeting came a year after Detroit agreed to pay surveillance vendor $1 million in order to stream live video to locations where they could monitor it.

[19] At later meetings, the American Civil Liberties Union and other community organizations expressed opposition to use of the technology by law enforcement.

[20] The Board approved a facial recognition technology policy on September 19, 2019, with more restrictions than the police department had originally asked for.