01/22/2022
The purpose of this page is to promote a dialogue around the culture of criminal justice in Traverse City.
While we acknowledge the valuable role of law enforcement & its inherent challenges, it's equally important we establish & maintain healthy boundaries in these interactions. Officers are public servants. Not masters to a subservient public. They're not infallible and their words should never be taken as scripture.
Nevertheless it's all too common in Traverse City & other tightly knit "small town" communities in rural Northern Michigan for officers to show regular indiscretion in their apprehension & prosecution of offenders.
Criminal cases involving the mentally ill & the homeless populations in Traverse City have long followed a typical narrative showing patterns & practices at the departmental, the prosecutorial, and even the probate level that violate defendant rights & promote criminal recidivism.
Such practices - where it concerns law enforcement - include but are by no means limited to the use of excessive force, unlawful detentions, derogatory or otherwise disparaging comments towards vulnerable individuals, relentless targeting of specific subjects that officers "have it out for" (to harass and routinely prosecute), gaslighting of vulnerable individuals, lying on police reports, and routine false reporting of felony resistance.
