Members of the Grand Rapids Power Structure wrote a love letter to Chief Winstrom because he protect their economic interests

On February 19th there was an instructive commentary article posted on Crain’s Grand Rapids Business. I say instructive because it was written by two members of the Grand Rapids Power Structure acting as apologists for the GRPD and Chief Winstrom.

The commentary piece was entitled Loss of police chief speaks to a bigger issue in Grand Rapids and was co-written by Johnny Brann and Mike VanGessel. Brann and VanGessel are members of the Grand Rapids Power Structure. In this post I want to look at what these two wealthy white men had to say, followed by how embedded they are in the local power structure and how they benefit from policing in Grand Rapids.

Brann and VanGessel make the following arguments about the GRPD and Police Chief Eric Winstrom.

First, the two rich, white businessmen make the claim that Chief Winstrom handled the killing of Patrick Lyoya “with transparency, professionalism, and a commitment to listening and learning at every turn.” Nothing could be further from the truth.

Second, besides fawning over Chief Winstrom, VanGessel and Brann then praise the Chief for increasing the number of cops from 260 in 2022 to more than 310 today. They follow up this with the claim that, “violence and auto theft trending downward, and homicides for 2024 and 2025 are tied with the lowest totals in at least five years.” VanGessel and Brann want us to assume that having more cops has reduced violent crime, yet they offer to evidence to support such a claim. In fact, as the group Interrupting Criminalization document police don’t actually stop crime. See their report, Cops Don’t Stop Violence.

Third, VanGessel and Brann then ask the question, if Chief Winstrom has done such an amazing job why is he leaving to take a position in Florida? Here is what the two rich white guys have to say:

There is only one reasonable conclusion: this departure speaks to something deeper than salary or title. It speaks to a cultural drift in our community — a drift away from supporting the institutions and individuals who work every day to protect us. We have seen growing movements to defund or dramatically reimagine policing without a shared plan for public safety or community consent. At the same time, some of our elected officials has too often appeared more interested in scoring political points than in advancing the clear progress made under Chief Winstrom’s tenure.

These comments are very similar to what Winstrom said himself when taking the job in Florida, when he complained about the anti-cop sentiment in Grand Rapids. See my response to this in a post entitled, Killing and assaulting Black people, protecting power and criminalizing dissent: A grassroots account of what Chief Winstrom actually did over the past four years.

Fourth, VanGessel and Brann write:

The loss of Chief Winstrom is a loss for Grand Rapids — not just because he is one of our most capable leaders, but because his departure reveals something about who we are becoming as a community. Are we the city that values safety, dignity, and partnership? Or are we the city that pushes away our best and brightest at the moment we need them most?

These questions reveal what kind of city VanGessel and Brann want, which is what both political leaders and members of the Grand Rapids Power Structure want – maintaining an economic climate that allows powerful business people the ability to expand their wealth, even at the expense of the public.

For example, in December of 2022, VanGessel and Brann, along with over 100 mostly business people signed on to a letter in support of the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce proposal for the City of Grand Rapids to criminalize the unhoused.

VanGessel and Brann both a major contributors to Republican candidates and they are both involved in numerous organizations that are part of the Grand Rapids Power Structure, such as the West Michigan Policy Forum, the Right Place Inc, the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce and the Econ Club of Grand Rapids, just to name a few.

VanGessel was the founder and CEO of Rockford Construction, which utilized hundreds of millions in public funding for development projects over the years, as I have documented over the years,

Johnny Brann Jr is also the son of Johnny Brann Sr., the founder of the police apologist group, Voice For the Badge, which has not only defended the GRPD since 2020, but has helped get pro-cop politicians to the City Commission, such as Drew Robbins in 2022.

VanGessel and Brann have also endorsed the use of millions in subsidies and tax breaks for projects like the Amphitheater and the Soccer Stadium and have consistently support major projects pushed by Grand Action 2.0. Johnny Brann Jr. is on the Executive Committee of Grand Action 2.0.

This is what members of the Grand Rapids Power Structure are all about. They want a well funded police department to make sure that tourists and people who come to downtown Grand Rapids to spend their money will not be bothered by unhoused people or by social movements that are organizing against institutionalized racism, war, and those calling for the abolition of policing and ICE. This is exactly why VanGessel and Brann wrote a love letter to Winstrom.