The 1973 Detroit City Charter (the basic legal document for city government) created a Board of Police Commissioners (BOPC). This was one of the first in the United States. The purpose was to establish civilian oversight of the police and to bring the police and the community closer together. The BOPC currently consists of 11 members, one elected from each City Council District and four selected by the Mayor.
The member representing District 6 in Southwest Detroit is Lisa Carter. In addition, Mayor Mike Duggan has appointed Jesus Hernandez as an at-large representative. Today, EL CENTRAL brings you a recent interview with Commissioner Lisa Carter and in a coming issue, hopes to bring you an interview with the lone Latino member of the BOPC, senor Hernandez. Hopefully, these interviews will serve as a police report to the Latino community.
Lisa Carter is an important member of the BOPC. She has served on the Commission for 10 years, and during that time, she has served as Chair twice and several times as Vice Chair. She serves currently as the Chair of the Commission’s Budget Committee and as a member of the Personnel and Training Committee.
Lisa Carter has a background in law enforcement. She was a member of the Wayne County Sheriff’s Department for 27 years, and she retired as a lieutenant in charge of the training unit. She currently serves as a Program Director for the AmeriCorps Urban Safety Program located at Wayne State University. She is married to State Representative Tyrone Carter (Democrat-Southwest Detroit).
Ms. Carter told EL CENTRAL that she tries to be sensitive to the needs of the Latino Community. She said that “she wants the Latino community to feel included in the Detroit Police Department.” She encourages the Department to hire and promote Latinos. Spanish language materials are used extensively throughout the Commission itself and the Department. Complaints about the Police can be made in Spanish, and the Department does not cooperate with ICE.
Now that Commander John Serda has retired, the highest-ranking Latinos in the Department are three lieutenants, one man and two women. Generally, a lieutenant commands a shift in a precinct. In addition, the BOPC has its own small staff that included two Latino investigators. Both of these investigators have now retired and Ms. Carter is hoping some Latinos will apply for these jobs.
Lisa Carter told EL CENTRAL that major efforts have been made to remove any barriers to applying for jobs in the Police Department and any applicant fees have been removed, as well. Interested parties can explore the possibilities by calling the DPD Recruitment Office at 313-596-8890 or emailing them at dpdfieldrecruitment@detroitmi.gov. The Police Department is currently hiring and Mayor Duggan has raised the wage rates in recent years.
NOTE: Any person can get involved with the Detroit Police Department. Each precinct has a Police Community Relations Committee. The Committee in our 4th Precinct meets the second Tuesday of every month (except during the summer) at the 4th Precinct Headquarters located at 4700 W. Fort St. This Committee is currently chaired by Erminia “Mini” Ramirez.
The BOPC meets every week. Meetings are held at Detroit Public Safety Headquarters, 1301 3rd St. at Michigan Avenue, each Thursday at 3:00 pm except the second Thursday, when the community meetings are held at 6:30 pm. The weekly agenda and community meeting locations can be found at https://detroitmi.gov/government/boards/board-police-commissioners.
