My citizen complaint against DPD

[detroitsgwenivere]

On the Friday afternoon after enjoying Thanksgiving with my family, my brother and I pulled up in front of my boyfriend's house [[in Detroit) to pick him up on our way downtown. A block away, we see a black and gold squad car pull up in front of a house. After a few minutes, the cops get back into the car and drive toward us [[going the wrong way on a one-way of course). While passing, they stared at us but kept going. With them out of sight and mind, my guy got in and we pulled off. As I approached the intersection from the north about to make a left, the squad car [[from the east) comes out of nowhere and slams on the brakes. I ushered them forward even though they had the yield, figuring they might have someplace more important to be than us. But they, in turn, ushered us forward and flicked their spotlight. So I went. About 5 secs later I hear the whoop and see red and blue lights in the rearview. By then, I'm doing almost 20 mph and going through the next intersection [[this is on a cross-street in a residential neighborhood). So I begin to pull over as I'm crossing and hear the whoop again. Mind you guys, I've gone from one intersection to the next on a small side street. Maybe 75 ft.

The next thing I know, both of my front car doors get flung open, a white cop on my side, a black cop on my bro's side. The Bcop bashes my car door into the curb, leaving damage, seen later upon inspection. I said, "Hey! Watch what you do to my car!" and he replied, "Shut the f*** up." The Wcop then screamed at me about how I'm going to effing jail because I didn't stop the effing car "immediately" after he turned on his effing lights. Then the Bcop grabbed my bro out of the car by the collar and shoved his hand down the front of my bro's pants, telling him "you know you’re going to jail right?" By then he was absolutely mortified, coming from out of town and not used to this behavior from police, but all he could do is say nothing and comply.

Meanwhile, the Wcop grabs and frisks me, and tells me to stand behind the car while he repeats over and over again, "I can't believe it! I've never seen this before in my life! What the f*** is wrong with you." I didn't say a word. He then screamed at my guy to get out of the car, frisked him, and told him to get out his ID and stand with me. He then rifles through the car and my purse, dumping it out all over the place. The three of us were hands-on-the-trunk as they kept asking "where'd you hide it?" It's then I read the words on the Bcop's vest: GANG SQUAD.

Then the Wcop reads my guy's ID and realizes that he lives in the house he just exited from. I swear to you guys, I wish I had a video of his reaction because it was priceless, he was so mad. A flurry of threats and taunts ensued. They then told us to get in the car, and they go to run my ID. After the Bcop comes back and hands it to me without a word, I ask him for his name, but he ignores me, and as he gets in his car I hear him say, "This one gets to keep the car," and they speed off.

For the record, I'm an elected person in this city, with no recent record, no tickets, no points. My boyfriend's family has lived in that neighborhood for 42 years, while watching it burn around them as the cops and cityhall looked on. Pirate hookers and trappers openly solicit from passer-bys while the police drive-by without a care, and have even been seen taking their opportunities with the hookers in the alleys behind the near-by party store. All the while the remaining residents, most of which are related or are too poor to move, have tried to make the best of it.

So I filed a complaint. It's not the fact that we got pulled over that upsets me. We are in a well-known dopehood and it is expected that at anytime we could get stopped. Since Godbee has taken over, my boyfriend has been stopped in the near proximity of his house several times, once when he had a small child in tow, and while mowing his lawn. He's asked the same question almost every time:"What are YOU doing over here?" He gets upset, but laughs it off. We know they're out here doing a dangerous job that they don't get paid enough for, which can really suck, and sometimes the people they stop are dangerous and mean. But to be treated so badly, and by the very people that not two weeks ago I was defending for calling off in protest to the proposed wage cuts. They were so aggressive and disrespectful, it was completely unnecessary and definitely an upsetting and eye-opening experience.

Two things stuck out to the three of us in this situation. One, we were and are constantly being racially profiled [[white in an 8 mile neighborhood), and two, they wanted to confiscate my car [[a late model caddy), through drug forfeiture, which costs at least $900 to get back from the impound. When I communicated these points to the Sgt., who took the complaint amongst the over a dozen officers standing around in the station, he said that what one person sees as wrong, someone else will call "good police work."

My brother, who was considering a move here in the near future, now wants nothing of it. My boyfriend told me recently he's thinking about moving his family out of Detroit. We'd been planning on buying a house here together.

There are people on this forum who have expressed a wish for the return of STRESS. I'm wondering how the behavior exhibited to me and my family by Gang Squad differs from the notorious past inflictions done to Detroiters by STRESS. Couldn't I say these departments are one in the same?


I just wanted to share this story with you all, and vent a little. Sorry it's so long. I know I'm not the only one dealing with these things.


And I still love Detroit. I guess I can still feel good about that.