Mayor LaGrand appoints pro-cop person to the Police Civilian Appeals Board and Sheriff LaJoye-Young gets an award from other cops

During the June 2nd Grand Rapids City Commission meeting Dean Pacific was approved to be a member of the Grand Rapids Police Civilian Appeals Board. Pacific had already been on the Police Civilian Appeals Board, but Mayor LaGrand appointed him again to serve of that 9 member board.

For those who remember Pacific received $12,500 from the GRPD union, while running for the First Ward Commissioner seat in the November 2024 Election and made it part of his strategy to attack his opponent because they supported defunding the GRPD, a claim that wasn’t even true.

In that same election Pacific also received $12,500 from the GR Chamber of Commerce along with a list of people who make up the Grand Rapids Power Structure. Pacific also received $1225 from Johnny Brann Sr., the founder of the pro-cop group Voice for the Badge.

It seems that Mayor LaGrand wants to make sure that the Police Civilian Appeals Board has an additional pro-cop member on that board. This is consistent with LaGrand’s pro-police stance since he became Mayor just 18 months ago, where he has approved the massive GRPD budgets for 2026 and 2027, along with his apology to the GRPD last month because residents were challenging the GRPD budget during a public hearing.

The other item I wanted to point out is that Kent County Sheriff LaJoye-Young recently received an award from the Michigan Sheriff’s Association for her, “incredible law enforcement career and lasting contributions to the criminal justice system.”

Cops giving cops awards is pretty standard, but this award doesn’t erase the fact that the the Kent County Sheriff’s Department has perpetuated institutionalizes racism and has collaborated with ICE during Sheriff LaJoye-Young tenure.

In 2024, the non-profit Linc Up worked with community partners to do research and put together informational graphics on the Kent County Jail, which you can find here.

Equally important is the fact that Kent County Sheriff LaJoye-Young has refused to be transparent about the fact that her office is collaborating with ICE by engaging in ICE holds at the Kent County Jail. When confronted about this Sheriff LaJoye-Young refused to talk with people in November of 2025, which led to people doing civil disobedience at the Sheriff’s office in January of this year.