Lawsuit: Detroit Police Board 'sabotaged' attempts to close backlog of citizen complaints

Detroit — The former executive manager of the Detroit Board of Police Commissioners alleges in a lawsuit that her effort to clear a backlog of hundreds of citizen complaints against Detroit Police officers was "sabotaged" by the board's former chairperson and other police commissioners.

The 29-page lawsuit filed Tuesday in Wayne County Circuit Court on behalf of Melanie White also alleges sex discrimination at the board, and claims Mayor Mike Duggan did nothing to stop the problems. The lawsuit names the city of Detroit and former board chairperson Bryan Ferguson as defendants.

The board in January voted to fire White and Lawrence Akbar, a former supervisor of the Office of the Chief Investigator, an arm of the board that looks into non-criminal complaints against Detroit police officers.

Prior to their dismissals, White and Akbar had been on paid administrative leave for 10 months, after police escorted them from their workplaces amid a Detroit Office of the Inspector General investigation into whether complaints had been improperly closed. After the IG seized about 2,600 files of citizen complaints, White and Akbar were put on leave.

Inspector General Ellen Ha released a report in February that concluded White and Senior OCI Investigator Hajnal Hiller had "improperly closed" hundreds of cases cases after embarking on a "Triage Project" that aimed to clear the complaint backlog. The report said White had "abused her position when she directed the OCI to implement the Triage Project, by acting as an OCI investigator, and by usurping the authority of the Interim Chief Investigator.

An earlier report from Ha, released in November, recommended White be disciplined for authorizing promotions and annual pay raises for two board employees totaling more than $31,000.

But in her lawsuit, White claims she had been empowered by Duggan and the board's leadership to give the raises and implement the plan to lower the complaint backlog, even though those duties weren't part of her job description.

"The mayor's office was monitoring everything that was being done to close out that backlog, and they approved everything that was being done," White's attorney Carl Edwards told The Detroit News. "So, why is she being blamed?"

Edwards also said there's a culture of "discrimination against women" at the police board.

"Several women have filed complaints with HR," Edwards said.

Detroit Corporation Counsel Conrad Mallett Jr. declined to comment. Ferguson did not return a phone call seeking comment.

According to the lawsuit, during the COVID pandemic, the board lost about 40% of its administrative staff, and "at least 56% of the investigative staff," which caused a logjam of hundreds of cases that The Detroit News reported Jan. 22, 2022.

Three days after The News' story was published, Duggan held a meeting to figure out how to clear the backlog, the lawsuit said.

"Public pressure (to close the cases) became so intense that on January 25, 2022, City of Detroit Mayor Michael Duggan convened a meeting in (the mayor's) conference room," the lawsuit said. In addition to Duggan, other meeting attendees included White, Ferguson and other board members, and Detroit Police Chief James White, the suit said.

"The purpose of this meeting was to design a process that was designed to first reduce and eventually eliminate the massive citizen complaint backlog," the lawsuit said. "Mayor Duggan gave his approval for the Special Exemption Backlog Reduction Project, including allowing (board) staff to work overtime hours."

Because Melanie White had spent years as an investigator, including working as part of the oversight team during the federal consent decree from 2003-14, former Board Chairperson the Rev. Jim Holley "gave his approval for Plaintiff Melanie White to work overtime, to assist investigating and closing the backlogged complaints, notwithstanding the fact that she was a management employee and normally would not be entitled to overtime," the lawsuit said.

During the meeting, White "informed Mayor Duggan that a group of Board of Police Commissioners were effectively sabotaging (the effort to close cases)," the lawsuit said. "The sabotage was being done to make ... Melanie White look bad and to justify her suspension and later termination by Chairman Ferguson.

"Despite being told (that Ferguson and other board members) were sabotaging the Mayor's pilot project to reduce and eliminate the massive citizen complaint backlog, Mayor Duggan took no action to stop the sabotage," the lawsuit said.

White said she had to take medical leave from Jan. 19-March 20, 2023, "because of the severe bullying, harassment, hatred, retaliation and discrimination she was being subjected to by ... Ferguson," the suit said.

The lawsuit also alleged sex discrimination at the board. According to the suit, board Administrative Assistant Robert Brown, who has been a board employee since 2000, "was being paid substantially more income than two Board of Police Commissioners female employees, Angela Cox and Stephanie Phillips."

In her November report, Inspector General Ha recommended "appropriate discipline" for White because she'd approved raises for Cox and Phillips, and because she'd used Ferguson's signature to submit the request for raises to the city's Human Resources Department.

But the lawsuit said Ferguson had given White permission to use his signature, as prior chairpersons had allowed the board secretary to do.

The suit also said Cox and Phillips were due raises, and that White "repeatedly stated to ... Ferguson that it was discrimination to pay male employee Robert Brown substantially more salary than female employees."

According to the lawsuit, Cox, Phillips and other female board employees have filed complaints with the city, alleging discrimination.

Police Commissioner Ricardo Moore said the lawsuit shines light on problems at the board that have become so rampant, he has repeatedly called for federal oversight of the civilian board that was created in 1974 to oversee the Detroit Police Department. Moore, a former Detroit Police officer, also has accused Duggan and Chief James White with colluding to usurp the board's power.

“Ms. White’s lawsuit shows the correlation between Detroit Mayor Michael Duggan and Police Chief James White’s stronghold on the Board of Police Commissioners," Moore said in a statement. "This further justifies federal intervention into the Board and the Detroit Police Department. I look forward to the discovery in Ms. White’s filing.”

However, Commissioner Willie Bell said he thought the lawsuit showed how unfairly White was treated.

"I am pleased with the lawsuit filed by Ms. White’s attorney," Bell said in an email. "The lawsuit outlined the case thoroughly and disputed the findings by the (inspector general). Ms. White was denied the opportunity to get a fair hearing and has been publicly accused for over a year unfairly. I am looking forward to this matter moving forward."

ghunter@detroitnews.com

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@GeorgeHunter_DN