Copaganda: Deconstructing the GRPD TV series on HBO/MAX – Episode #7

Editors Note: Last week, Chief Winstrom made the claim that if the GRPD was not short handed, Chrisopher Schurr would not have shot Patrick Lyoya in the back of the head. Such a claim should cause any of us to question everything that Winstrom has to say. In addition, during the public comment at last week’s Grand Rapids City Commission meting, dozens of people called out the GRPD for their abusive treatment of people during the Schurr trial. The Grand Rapids City Commission’s response was reprehensible. 

Episode seven begins with a GRPD cop responding to a call of gunshots heard in the northwest park of Grand Rapids, just west of US 131. When the GRPD arrives they find a man who has been shot sitting in his car. Two Black men show up on the other side of the fence barrier for US 131, but quickly leave when the cops start asking questions.

The GRPD then was able to ID the shooting victim, which appears to be a Black man, based on the photo they used. More GRPD cops show up at the scene of the shooting and they find lots of money in the car and several phones.

The shooting victim’s car is brought back to police headquarters, where the forensic unit finds more money and more drugs in the car. At one point, one of the cops – talking to the camera – states, “It is unusual to find this much money and this much drugs, but with no gun.” Chief Winstrom also chimes in to say that with that amount of money and drugs, “it is usually connected to violence.” 

The cops then turn to the social media of the man who was shot and find out that he had recently posted a self-made rap video, or at least that was what the GRPD was calling it. Another Detective speculates that he has seen this before, that when someone gets some fame they end up being a target of violence. Talk about another racist trope, the GRPD keeps making statements about things they know nothing about. 

The cops then respond to more shots at College & Leonard, with shots coming from a grey Dodge Charger. The two Black men who came to the scene of the shooting near US 131, also drove a grey Dodge Charger, thus the GRPD is speculating that these two shootings are linked.

The GRPD then finds the grey Dodge Charger and takes into custody a Black man, where the cops are demanding he exist the car with his hands up walking backwards towards the police. No weapons are found, but the episode doesn’t say if this Black man has been arrested.

A SWAT team then goes to a hotel looking for a suspect and they find one of the suspects, who is another Black male. Once again, the GRPD makes the suspect walk backwards towards them with his hands up. The cops bring this Black man back to the GRPD headquarters and then interrogates him. The suspect says he won’t say anything without a lawyer.

What is rather instructive about what happens next is that the Black man they were interrogating was wearing a tether on his ankle. Even though the GRPD detained him at gun point, they apparently didn’t check him for any weapons, otherwise they would have found the tether. Embarrassed, the GRPD cops laugh about it, and one says, “we should probably edit this out.”

The GRPD Detectives then go and speak with the Kent County Prosecutor about the case and he says they have to let this guy go because they do not have any real hard evidence. The show ends with several cops and Chief Winstrom feeling sorry that they couldn’t resolve this case.

Like the previous episodes, Episode #7 continued with representing Black people as suspects in gun violence, as drug traffickers, then added a new stereotype, by associating guns and drugs with rap music. The All Access PD Grand Rapids show has been consistent through 7 episodes, with the GRPD hunting down Black people who commit gun violence, often involving drug trafficking and and the victims are always Black people.