DETROIT (WXYZ) — Until his current job, Jamonte Horton had been fired or forced to resign from every police department he’s worked for.
He failed background checks with the Farmington Hills and Waterford Police Departments. The Macomb County Sheriff’s Office turned down his application to work there, and the Detroit Police Department rejected him twice.
According to the Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standards, Horton is not allowed to be a police officer. But he works as a Wayne County Sheriff’s Deputy today.
“Some people are meant to be the police, and some people are meant to call the police,” said Ricardo Moore, a Detroit Police Commissioner. “He’s someone who’s meant to call the police.”
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Horton’s problems began early in his career. While only a cadet with Wayne State Police, he showed up to a party with a loaded gun. After a fight broke out, Horton was shot and returned fire. He resigned in 2015 for his role in the shooting.
He later joined the Ypsilanti Police Department, where Horton was written up for missing shifts, “found sleeping in his patrol vehicle” and caught sharing a homemade pornographic video with other officers while on duty.
He was written up for putting his fellow officers at risk like when he left a sergeant alone during a traffic stop and missed a knife during a search of a domestic violence suspect.
While working a sexual assault investigation, Horton failed “to follow simple orders” that led the case to be ignored for two-and-a-half months, according to a Wayne County background check, leaving the suspect free on the streets.
“Victims are the reason why police departments are in business. To help victims, and help people from being victims,” Commissioner Moore said.
“He shouldn’t be trusted with the privilege of being a police officer.”
'Egregious' violations
Facing termination from Ypsilanti, Horton resigned in 2019. His chief said he’d been given “multiple opportunities to improve” but still wasn’t capable of “completing his core duties,” like “coming to work” and “remaining awake.”
After being pushed out of Ypsilanti, Horton joined the Highland Park Police Department, where his judgment was questioned early and often.
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In 2020, Horton responded to the scene of a stabbing at a strip club along Woodward Avenue. When it was time to handcuff a suspect, Horton was seen handing his department-issued AR-15 to a strip club security guard—a violation of department policy.
In a separate incident, while searching for a suspect, Horton did a u-turn across two lanes of traffic, striking another vehicle. According to Highland Park P-D, he kept driving without checking on the driver he just hit.
But the final straw came in 2022. While Horton was out on patrol, he heard over the radio that Detroit and Michigan State Police were engaged in a high-speed pursuit.
According to Highland Park’s investigation, Horton was “ordered not to get involved” in the chase, but he did anyway. When he did, according to investigators, Horton manually turned off his body camera during the pursuit.
When questioned by internal affairs, Horton said the camera malfunctioned.
“I didn’t engage in no chase, I wasn’t involved in a chase or anything,” Horton said during an interview.
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But GPS data confirmed he was involved in the chase and, according to internal affairs, Horton made “several false statements” during the investigation.
Highland Park called Horton’s misconduct “egregious" and, as it prepared to fire him, he resigned in October 2022.
Three weeks later, he was hired by the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office as a deputy.
Significant deputy shortage
Since he resigned in Highland Park two years ago, Horton’s law enforcement license was deactivated by the state, meaning he can’t serve as a police officer until it’s turned back on.
But an active law enforcement license isn’t required to work as a deputy inside a jail, where Horton is today.
For years, the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office has struggled with understaffing in its jails.
In a bid to increase applicants, the county recently approved pay increases for deputies, but the jail is still significantly short-staffed. As of last week, the county was 344 deputies short.
In a recent recruiting video, Sheriff Raphael Washington encouraged potential applicants to join the county's ranks: “We want to hire individuals committed to serving our citizens with honor and integrity," he said.
But Glenn Anderson, a Wayne County Commissioner, said Horton’s background suggests he should not be serving as a deputy.
“It’s very surprising that with a record like that, we would have him working at the sheriff’s department,” Anderson said.
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7 News Detroit requested an interview with Sheriff Raphael Washington or a member of his staff to understand why the county hired Horton, but a spokesman declined our request.
At a recent budget meeting in Livonia, reporter Ross Jones questioned Sheriff Washington about the hiring.
“Did the sheriff’s office lower its standards to hire Jamonte Horton?” Jones asked.
“We never lower standards,” Washington said. “Never.”
“How troubled are you that he was found to be untruthful?” Jones asked.
“I’m troubled that that happened, if that is indeed a fact," Washington replied. "I don’t know that to be a fact. Nobody has talked to me about that.
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Washington said he had no knowledge that Horton was fired or forced to resigned from previous agencies, stressing that he was not involved in his hiring.
But Washington’s signature is found on the bottom of a 2022 request submitted to the Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standards, or MCOLES, seeking to have Horton’s law enforcement license reactivated, allowing him to serve as a police officer.
Last week, the state said no.
“Mr. Jamonte Horton was issued a written notice of its intent to deny reactivation of his law enforcement officer license for failure to comply with the Character Fitness Standard,” said MCOLES Executive Director Tim Bourgeois.
Horton’s license remains inactive, but he has the right to a contested hearing or to appeal the MCOLES ruling. He remains a deputy working in the jail today.
7 News Detroit contacted Horton through text messages, e-mails, phone calls and a letter. He did not respond.
Contact 7 Investigator Ross Jones at ross.jones@wxyz.com or at (248) 827-9466.