racial bias

An African-American police officer is suing the Detroit police department, claiming rampant racial discrimination, a hostile work environment, and an atmosphere of retaliation against black officers.

11-year department veteran Johnny Strickland lays out that case in a new federal civil rights lawsuit. It accuses Detroit police of fostering widespread racial discrimination, where white supervisors retaliate against black subordinates who complain.

The Grand Rapids Police Department wants to rebuild trust with the community. So it started a pilot program that it hopes will help do that.

The department is using principles from a book called The Speed of Trust to bridge the gap between community members and itself.

Eric Payne, the deputy chief of police in Grand Rapids, says communication between police and community is most important.

“Once we establish that, I think that’s where relationships get built, and then trust comes from that,” Payne said.

An African American carpenter says he suffered racial discrimination and harassment on the job during the construction of Detroit’s Little Caesar’s Arena.

Harold Wilson is suing Hardman Construction, the contractor he spent just two days working for in 2015.

Wilson says he had trouble getting hired, despite a need for skilled tradesmen and Detroit resident workers. A city ordinance requires that 51% of all employees working on major development projects in Detroit be city residents.

Elected leaders in Grand Rapids are trying to satisfy critics who say they’re not doing enough to change police policies and outcomes critics say are racially biased.

It's part of a larger effort launched after violence in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014.

A new study finds Grand Rapids Police are biased when it comes to pulling over drivers in the city.

A study released this week shows black drivers are twice as likely to be stopped. 

After being tipped off by a hospital chaplain that it seemed like hospital security was called more for black patients then white patients, Dr. Carmen Green decided to look into it.

In December 2014, Green was as the head of the Office for Healthcare Equity and Inclusion (OHEI) at the University of Michigan Health System (UMHS). Green filed a report to the then-acting CEO of UMHS Anthony Denton. According to the report, “More requests (to call security) were made for black patients/visitors then would be expected by their representation in the overall patient census.”

Back in 2004, researchers found Grand Rapids police officers did not pull black drivers over at higher rates than whites ones.

But now, the city is getting an updated study.

It’s part of a broader effort to improve relations between minority communities and GRPD in reaction to riots in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014. Grand Rapids outfitted all officers with body cameras last year as part of the effort.

By Bill McGraw is a reporter for Bridge Magazine, a Detroit Journalism Cooperative partner

Though their sprawling region had long wrestled with segregation, and racial violence has dominated national headlines this summer, about half of all metro Detroit residents say local race relations today are generally good, according to an exclusive new poll by the Detroit Journalism Cooperative.

The Grand Rapids City Commission tomorrow will vote on whether to hire an outside consultant to study if its police force is racially biased when pulling over drivers.

A similar study conducted in 2004 found no systemic bias in Grand Rapids. But after the riots in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014, people who spoke at community meetings still felt racial targeting was a problem in Grand Rapids. 

That's why city leaders are recommending a second study based on more current data. 

Attorneys have filed a federal lawsuit against the city of Grand Rapids and three city police officers over a 2014 incident that left an unarmed teenage boy in the hospital.

The Flint city council holds a special meeting this afternoon to discuss a plan to merge two local district courts. 

68th District Court covers the city of Flint. 67th District Court covers the rest of Genesee County. 

Under the merger plan, the 68th District would become a division of the 67th District. The merger would save the city of Flint more than $8 million over the next ten years.