The photos were shared last month on Facebook by attorney Dionne Webster-Cox, who said she was posting the images on behalf of a family who was on a tour of the Farmington Hills Police Department as part of a Girl Scout field trip.
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One of the photos shows hanging targets of Black men holding guns. Children are depicted crowded around one of the targets. Dionne Webster-Cox / Facebook “This community does not need an over-aggressive police officer who wants to subvert his authority,” Webster-Cox said in a Facebook post. “No matter how many defenses the police offer to justify this incident, exposing school children or adults to this practice is ignorant.” Story continues below ad Dionne Webster-Cox / Facebook Webster-Cox said she would not share the identity of the family who sent her the photos, but told CNN affiliate WXYZ that they asked her to “speak on their behalf.” Police Chief Jeff King apologized during a city council meeting last week. “I’m going to take this on the chin, I apologize to every single person in this room, in this community, my department, my city council, my city manager,” he said, according to CNN.
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“I can’t overlook that, but I promise you, it’s going to make us stronger, it’s going to make us better, it’s going to make us more transparent, and this community as a whole will be better for it.” Trending Stories
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Story continues below ad The Guardian reports that King added that the use of the images is compliant with the Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standards and that the targets used for training are 85 percent white and 15 percent black. Farmington Hills Police Officer Kevin Clark defended the use of the targets to WXYZ, saying that officers shoot at black, white and gray targets and that the use of images of racial people is to help officers work through implicit bias. 2:10 All-party policing committee report targets systemic racism All-party policing committee report targets systemic racism – 28 April 2022 “I’ve never been trained to shoot at any particular race, gender, age or anything like that,” Clark said. A parent on the field trip told the outlet they see it differently.
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Story continues below ad “What I’m seeing here is that these are actually black men in hoods and they’re actually holding guns, and they’re actually black, they’re not black or gray or white,” they said. The city of Farmington Hills said in a statement on Facebook that after a “comprehensive review” they found the department uses 11 white targets and two black targets. City of Farmington Hills, Michigan – Municipal Government / Facebook King apologized to the Boy Scout troop during last week’s council meeting “for not providing a full explanation of these goals.” In addition, he said he would order an immediate legal review of education systems and goals, to be completed before the fall school term. Mayor Vicki Barnett told CNN the targets have been lifted while the city conducts its review. Story continues below ad “We’ve been told that there are reasons why these images are used to address implicit bias in training, but we think it’s important to understand the full context in which they’re used,” he said. “We will also compare our educational practices with regional municipalities and provide a full report on our findings to the community.” 1:21 Calgary police officers defy order to remove thin blue stripes from uniforms Previous Video Next Video © 2022 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
