After a 2017 traffic stop study discovered racial bias in the Grand Rapids Police Department, an independent group charged with doing an internal review has released a series of recommendations for the GRPD to adopt.
According to a press release from the city, "The recommendations fall in six areas of Grand Rapids Police Department policy review: staffing and deployment, internal affairs, training, youth interactions, community policing and crime reduction, and recruiting and hiring."
It’s been 18 months since a consulting firm’s research determined that Grand Rapids Police are twice as likely to pull over African-American motorists as they are non-black motorists.
Back then, the city responded by hiring 21st Century policing, a consulting group based in Chicago to establish a task force charged with conducting an internal review of the Grand Rapids Police Department’s policies and procedures. With a final presentation to the Grand Rapids City Commission set for October, the task force has released 38 recommendations for the GRPD to adopt.
Ron Davis, is the principal of 21st Century Policing, and the Task Force’s facilitator.
“The challenges that you’re (Grand Rapids is) facing are not unique,” Davis said. “They are consistent across the entire country. What makes Grand Rapids unique, in which we think is a plus, and can be a model, is how the city is responding.”
Davis says, the 38 recommendations are all aimed at addressing disparate outcomes and strengthening community and police relations.
You can read all 38 recommendations here: https://www.grandrapidsmi.gov/Shortcut-Content/News-Media/Police-Task-Force-offers-38-ideas-for-addressing-disparate-outcomes
