Governor Gretchen Whitmer has signed an executive order to expand the commission that sets law enforcement training standards.
Her order adds the state’s civil rights director to the Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standards, which sets rules on licensing and training police officers. Most of them represent law enforcement groups.
Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist says the order also adds three other members who cannot be affiliated with a police department or law enforcement group.
"They are members of communities of our state physically, geographically, from an identity perspective, and that’s why we want them to be represented on a body that is helping to set standards and policies for a set of professionals who serve every community in the state of Michigan," says Gilchrist. "We think that this will help lay a foundation for not only changing how law enforcement operates in Michigan, but that foundation will be laid in part by people that represent the communities law enforcement serves."
Gilchrist says the order will add diversity and new perspectives to police training.
“And that will make it clear to the people of Michigan that we are all on the same side, that there is no notion of the community being adversarial against law enforcement and vice versa.”
This comes as demonstrations against police brutality and racial bias have rocked many cities across the state and the country.
