The Grand Rapids Police Civilian Appeal Board is adding another pro-cop member

In one of his last acts as Grand Rapids City Commissioner, First Ward Commission Jon O’Connor has recommend that F. Douglas Mileski be added to the Grand Rapids Police Civilian Appeal Board.

According to his Linkedin page, Mileski states that he is an:

Experienced Owner with a demonstrated history of working in the real estate industry. Skilled in Arbitration, Real Property, Construction Law, Real Estate Transactions, and Corporate Law. Strong entrepreneurship professional with a Bachelor of Arts and a law degree (J.D.) from Michigan State University. 

Like Commissioner O’Connor, Mileski is a bar/restaurant owner and a supporter of the GRPD. A post on Mileski’s Facebook page for June 16, 2020, when the Grand Rapids City Commission was getting lots of pressure from the community to reduce the funding of the GRPD, he wrote:

City Commission discussed defunding GRPD today. This commissioner lays out the goal. The office of Oversight and Accountability is a REAL problem. It is not like an Internal Affairs office. It is more like the PC police. Any commissioner or Mayor that supports a NINE MILLION DOLLAR budget cut to GRPD needs to be voted out of, or recalled from, office. 

Another indication of where Mileski stands on critical issues has to do with he comment in May of 2020, while addressing the Stay at Home policy that Gov. Whitmer put in place. Here Mileski states:

The selfishness and submissiveness of those that virtue signal that the stay at home order has anything to do with science or concern for society is appalling. We are all grown ups capable of assessing risk. F*** the nanny state and stop being fascist in threatening our livelihoods when we disagree. Stay home if you feel safer but do not presume that it is ok to quarantine the healthy. In this country, you govern with the consent of the governed. You do not rule. Good night.

It is interesting to note, that just two days after Mileski wrote these comments, I attended a rally held in downtown Grand Rapids in defiance of the Stay at Home order, a rally held by the American Patriot Council. Several members of the American Patriot Council were involved in the January 6th, 2021 insurrection in DC. 

Adding Mileski to the Grand Rapids Police Civilian Appeal Board is significant, especially when you consider the current composition of the board. The Grand Rapids Police Civilian Appeal Board is currently made up of 8 members (still 1 vacancy), with 4 white men, 1 white female, 1 multi-racial female, 1 African American female and 1 African American male. 

With Mileski, there are now two overtly pro-cop members of the Grand Rapids Police Civilian Appeal Board, Mileski and Dean Pacific. Pacific received $12,500 from the GRPD union, while running for the First Ward Commissioner seat in the November Election and made it part of his strategy to attack his opponent because they supported defunding the GRPD. .

The fact that Commissioner O’Connor recommended Mileski comes as no surprise. O’Conner has endorse pro-GRPD policies every year he has sat on the City Commission, he sits on the Public Safety Committee, which allows him to use his pro-cop leverage, and he has received $7,000 from the Grand Rapids Police Officer’s Association during various campaigns for City Commission.