FARMINGTON HILLS, MI (WXYZ) – The Farmington Hills Police Department has completed the first phase of its legal review. It comes after a Boy Scout troop posted photos of the department’s police shooting targets that allegedly depicted black men. The Farmington Hills police chief says the photos of the targets are a misrepresentation.
On Monday night, the firm leading the review presented its findings at a city council meeting. About 1,400 pages of information were turned over by Farmington Hills police.
“There were 15 to 16 state-mandated and sanctioned targets of various photo-realistic individuals in various poses, as well as alternative types of target choices, including whether they were armed or carrying a cell phone; whether they were holding a Coke can.” . . and the purpose was to force executives to make a split-second decision,” said Tom Mauro of Wineborn Consulting. “More of those targets were non-threats among all races, all genders and all types of physical characteristics.”
Back in June, the community asked him to forgive the chief after he claimed his department had only used targets of black men at its shooting range. Many people expressed concern, including members of the Farmington Hills community and members of the City Council.
The department removed the targets and said they would never be used again.
“The chief is constantly monitoring this and there were some recommendations that came out of the various investigations into this matter and I think the department is doing everything they can,” Mauro said.
