(WXYZ) — The Farmington Hills police chief is aiming to set the record straight after images of the department's shooting range showed only Black men as targets.
The photos were snapped by a boy scout troop while they were touring the building, and were provided to us by attorney Dionne Webster-Cox. The parent who took the photo has retained her as a spokesperson.
"To me, I almost want to compare it to they left their porn out, pornography, porno magazines out for these kids to see," said Webster-Cox, "It is just that offensive."
Police Chief Jeff King said it was bad optics, but not reflective of how his officers train.
"It just doesn't look good, and we acknowledge that," said King.
The photos were taken just hours after an exercise in the shooting range.
"At the completion of the training event portions were taken down, this first entire row was taken down," King motioned to targets hanging in the range. "They were placed and hungover by the side and there were five targets remaining four African American and one Caucasian.
Webster-Cox says it was heartbreaking to see such a young boy staring at four targets, two of which were riddled with bullet holes.
"Right now, all they have is an image in their head that this is the target, and if you look at one of those pictures, you saw those little kids lifting up to see what the next picture was," said Webster-Cox.
"Guess what, the next picture was, another Black man," she added.
In a letter to the mayor from the American Civil liberties Union (ACLU), staff attorney Mark Fancher said, "It was alarming that no one possessed sufficient knowledge, awareness, or sensitivity to recognize the problem.
"No targets of black people should be used given the historical backdrop and the current circumstances as it relates to the relationship between law enforcement and the black community," said Fancher.
Fancher believes only silhouettes should be used when doing any kind of shooting training.
King says officers shoot at pictures of actual people to make training as realistic as possible. The photos are both threat and non-threat targets. For example, some are holding pop cans while others are pointing a gun.
"Non-threat targets were embedded in there to train our officers with the priority of life preservation," said King, "It's not just when to shoot, but more importantly when not to shoot."
The targets used that day were certified by the Michigan Commission of Law Enforcement Standards (MCOLES).
"That threat to the officer and the public can come in any form and it is the threat, and the behavior, those are things that we teach them to try to counter," said Tim Bourgeois, the Executive Director of MCOLES
He says MCOLES is heavily involved in new officer training, but not responsible for choosing target demographics.
"We strongly encourage that there is a diversity in those targets," said Bourgeois
After the story hit the airwaves, all targets were removed pending a legal review and a third-party investigation.
"We are moving as quickly as possible to get both of those done prior to any additional training," said King.
"There is a strategy in everything we do here; the way our targets are positioned, the context of our targets, the selection of our targets, and the number of our targets," King added.
The training they were doing that day is called situational awareness. King says it helps officers work through implicit bias.
According to Fancher officers with adequate implicit bias training should have recognized the issue with the set up.
He says it could be pre-telling to a larger issue.
"We don't want this to manifest in a different way where in the future where someone actually is the target, a real-life target of police violence when it was unwarranted and unnecessary," said Fancher.
King says in the last 28 years there have been two shootings involving Farmington Hills police officers.
He says people from all over the country have contacted the chief and he says he's called them all back.
He's hoping to bring more context to the situation. The review of what happened is expected to be completed before fall.
Roughly 600 law enforcement agencies exist in Michigan. Out of those, 38 have been accredited, and only eight have been re-accredited. King says this makes the Farmington Hills Police Department the largest department to have that status.
"We believe what we're doing is right and we will wait and hear from two external experts and carry on," said King.
King says what unfolded after the pictures were released to the public is unfortunate and his officers have paid the price.
"Death threats I accept that as part of this profession and my assignment, but I don't really like it for my officers," said King, "they deserve better, our department deserves better."
Webster-Cox there is room for forgiveness, but not without accountability.
"On that day it was wrong and, on that day, it affected these children," said Webster-Cox.
She suggests inviting the boy scout troop back and showing them the correct way to train.
King says they will be continuing tours and hope for more positive experiences in the future.
