5 Notorious Detroit Police Department Scandals

2003 Ford Crown Victoria Detroit Police Department by Frank Deanrdo – Wikimedia Commons

5 Notorious Detroit Police Department Scandals

The Detroit Police Department was established in 1865. The Detroit Police Department was thought to have many ties to illegal activities happening in Detroit in the 1980s. At the end of the 20th century, Detroit had a reputation for being one of the most dangerous cities in the country and in 2000, the Detroit Free Press recorded that Detroit led the entire nation in fatal shootings by police. Read additional facts about Detroit. 

Most of the suspicion surrounding the involvement of the Detroit Police Department in various scandals stemmed from the connection that the then Mayor had with various criminal entities in the city. It is because of this reason that the FBI and the DEA were roped into Detroit to investigate most of these cases. In 2003, the U.S. Justice Department took over the management of the Detroit Police Department because of the rise in shootings of suspects, unconstitutional investigative techniques and mistreatment of prisoners.

In this article, we feature 5 notorious Detroit Police Department Scandals.

1. Massive Corruption in the Detroit Police Department

Detroit police inspecting equipment found in a clandestine underground brewery during the prohibition era – Wikimedia Commons

The Detroit Police Department had a wide range of their individual officers engaged in corruption and other illegal activities. Some of these illegal activities included warrantless home invasions, racial profiling and unconstitutional stop-and-frisk searches of motorists and pedestrians, and routine coverups of brutality and misconduct toward civilians. 

Another degree of corruption was conducted by individual officers who were operating through small networks within the Detroit Police Department. This group of officers were involved in severe criminal conduct such as taking narcotics payoffs and committing sexual assaults. The Detroit police department was seen to corroborate with these officers as they did little to nothing to eradicate the corruption that was being witnessed. All attempts of investigation to these cases were faced with resistance and obstacles in the Detroit Police Department. 

2. Detroit Plainclothes Police Department accused of Sexually assaulting Women

The policing of markets involving prostitution and narcotics had long facilitated violence by law enforcement officers against women, including sexual assault as well as other forms of physical brutality. The Detroit Police Department often covered up incidents of sexual violence by its officers and did not fully confront the issue of violence against women until the mid-to-late 1970s, when the eruption of feminist activism happened.  

Women of colour were especially more vulnerable to physical and sexual abuse by these plainclothes police officers who acted in cohorts with their partners and squad units. The plainclothes disguises and undercover tactics utilized in vice and narcotics enforcement also enabled some police officers to act with more impunity and commit clearly criminal acts. Not only did these police officers sexually assault their victims but it was reported that they also robbed them of their cash and other valuables that they had in their possession. 

3. The Fifth Precinct Incident

Detroit Gaming Police by Cory Doctorow – Wikimedia Commons

The Fifth Precinct Incident saga during 1972-1973 became famous for illustrating the power of the so-called Blue Curtain, the street-level code of silence that shielded police officers who committed criminal acts of brutality as well as the corrupt and organized conspiracy by the Detroit Police Department as an institution to cover up such criminal misconduct. In 1972, a patrol car belonging to the Detroit Police Department responded to a call and encountered a group of 7 African American teenagers in the neighborhood. Read more about the 10 Safest Neighborhoods to live in Detroit. 

One of the teenagers had discovered an American flag in a trash can, and there are conflicting accounts from the victims and the police of what happened when the police arrived. Curtis Lewis, a 14-year-old, stated that he and some friends were playing with the flag when a group of white officers approached and grabbed the flag while using racial insults and claiming it was being desecrated. Gilbert Lewis, Curtis’s father, along with his uncle James Lewis intervened to defend the youth.

It is at this point that physical assault ensued and the officers bundled up these men into their cars and headed to the station. While in the garage of the station, they continued to rough them up and this resulted in massive physical injuries to the victims. When this incident got to the limelight and stirred public controversy, the officers who were involved were subjected to a hearing from a Trial tribunal. They went ahead to suspend them without pay for 30 days which was a slap in the wrist as compared to the atrocious things they had done.

4. The Detroit Police Department’s involvement in Illegal Surveillance of Political Activists and Organizations

The Detroit Police Department systematically broke the law and violated the U.S. Constitution through its program of surveillance against political activists and groups. This program was a centerpiece of the Detroit Police Department’s repression campaign against Black radical organizations and a clear example of how the police department intervened as a right-wing political institution, not just a crime control agency, in Detroit politics. 

The secret Detroit Police Department operation was based in the Criminal Intelligence Bureau and worked in parallel with the Special Investigation Unit of the Michigan State Police, which also violated civil liberties. Along with similar operations in urban police departments across the nation, the Detroit Police Department provided and received information from the FBI’s cointel program, whose mission was to disrupt and neutralize civil rights, black power, New Left, and other progressive and radical organizations and movements.

5. Detroit Police Department repeatedly released drug peddlers and criminals back to the streets without charges

Plymouth Patrol Car, Detroit Police by F. D. Richards – Wikimedia Commons

In the years between 2017 and 2019, the Detroit Police Department’s Major Violators Unit released suspects in possession of drugs and weapons back onto the streets without any follow-up prosecution.

All this was done at the peril of public safety and Detroit rose to be one of America’s most dangerous cities. In their defence, the Detroit police officers stated that they released the smaller fish in these operations in exchange for information that would lead to the arrest of individuals that were higher up in the command chain. But when subsequent raids were done and more drugs were found, they would equally release the suspected dealers.  

Here are additional 10 Facts about Detroit Police Department.