Kalamazoo Public Safety

Kalamazoo city commissioners are set to vote on a $214 million budget at a meeting Tuesday.

The proposed budget includes spending that’s about 5% higher than last year.

And it includes more than $32 million for the Public Safety Department. That’s only slightly less than than year before, despite loud calls for defunding the department.

An outside group wants to hear inside stories from people in Kalamazoo who have experiences with the protests in the city.

Kalamazoo Public Safety Chief Karianne Thomas is resigning.

Her resignation comes after criticism of how the department has handled Black Lives Matter protests, including how officers responded to a Proud Boys rally on August 15 where members of the far-right hate group violently clashed with counter protesters.

Kalamazoo Public Safety Chief Jeff Hadley says he’d like all of his officers to wear body cameras by 2016.

Hadley has some concerns about citizens’ privacy and the costs, but he thinks the cameras will be worth it.

Kalamazoo Public Safety officers are making dramatically fewer traffic stops. Chief Jeff Hadley says the data reflect a change in the department’s strategies.

Back in September, the Kalamazoo police department released a study that showed, among other things, that African-American drivers were almost twice as likely as Caucasian drivers to get pulled over in the city.

African-American drivers are more than twice as likely to get pulled over than Caucasian drivers in the City of Kalamazoo. That’s according to a study the city released this week.

The study only looked at how the department deals with traffic stops. The data covers stops between March 2012 and February 2013.

Kalamazoo’s Public Safety Department is conducting a study to see if its officers unfairly target racial and ethnic minorities.

The study is not being court ordered, the city isn’t being sued, and there hasn’t been any big incident that sparked the study. Kalamazoo Public Safety Chief Jeff Hadley says that’s a good thing.

“These types of issues can bring a lot of emotion… and it makes it a lot more difficult to talk reasonably and to talk productively and constructively in how we move forward,” Hadley said.

Hadley says the department wants to try to avoid problems and they’re hoping the study will help.

“Spending money on this type of study I think is really an investment into our relationship with the community; and how important they are in how we operate as a public safety department and how we keep this city safe,” Hadley said.

This fall voters in Kalamazoo could make going after marijuana users the "lowest priority" for law enforcement officials. The question will likely appear on the ballot this November.

If the proposed amendment to Kalamazoo’s city charter passes, public safety officials would treat people with an ounce of marijuana or less as their “lowest priority.” The change would only affect those 21 and older. It would still be illegal to drive under the influence or use marijuana in a public place.