MSP fields questions at Saginaw City Council meeting

SAGINAW, Mich. (WNEM) – Two representatives from the Michigan State Police came to the Saginaw City Council meeting on April 3 to address concerns from Saginaw residents.

“Made my stomach turn. It was completely unacceptable. Our review process, all of our uses of forces are reviewed a certain way in our review process, identify that,” Michigan State Police Capt. Greg Morenko said.

Morenko and Inspector Todd Mapes went before the Saginaw City Council Monday evening, April 3 to address citizen concerns about their patrols of the area. This comes after two MSP troopers were criminally charged in two separate encounters involving Saginaw residents: one in March of 2022, the other, last September.

“What’s going on where the Michigan State Police finds itself interacting with people of color on a high percentage rate than people have not?” Saginaw City Council member Monique Lamar-Silvia said.

“We take any complaints made against our members very seriously. We investigate all those complaints. So I would just like the community to know that we take them seriously,” Mapes said.

Morenko and Mapes were fielding questions from council members about the relationship between the department and the Saginaw community and what the agency is doing to address the issue of racial disparities in the way they patrol.

“We all get implicit bias training continually,” Morenko said. “It’s not a usual ‘one time, we don’t see it for a couple of years.’ We’re going through it all the time. Resiliency training is another one that we’re working on. The fact that trace will be posted was one of the first to go through it after this incident that you’re referring to,” Morenko said.

“When we have reports of something that’s not been done right or somebody’s been treated unfairly, we’re going to look into that and we’re going to hold people accountable,” Mapes said.

Morenko and Mapes updated council members on the Secure Cities Partnership, a program that has been in place since 2012. Under it, state and city police patrol work in tandem, patrolling the area and working to build a better relationship with residents.

“We’re always encouraging our troopers to be involved in community engagement because those are important to break down barriers and build trust in the community,” Mapes said.

To help better serve the community the tri-city post assigned a full-time community service trooper.

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