Most recent GRPD assault demonstrates once again that we need to invest in community care, not cops

Since the first post I did regarding the selection of Joe Trigg to be the next Chief of Police for Grand Rapids, other police apologist groups have weighed in.

The group known as iCI Nation just reposted the announcement of Trigg’s selection from the City of Grand Rapids’ Facebook page. Ironically, the day before the head of iCI Nation posted a picture which include Joe Trigg a local pastor and herself with the comment, “Blast from the past -Pastor Gholston just sent me this picture from 2019 National Day of prayer of us with now interim Chief Joe Trigg – We have an amazing city!!”

The police apologist group Voice for the Badge also saluted Trigg as the new Police Chief. Their President Johnny Brann Sr. wrote:

CITY OFFICIALS– AS ALWAYS—LET LEADERS LEAD AND SUPPORT THE MEN AND WOMEN IN BLUE -THIS UNFORTUNATELY HAS NOT ALWAYS BEEN THE CASE – JOHNNY BRANN SR

LISTEN TO OUR CHIEF– CHIEF TRIGG WILL BE INTERVIEWED ON THE JUSTIN BARCLAY RADIO  {106.9 FM} SHOW AT 930 AM WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24TH.

All of this attention on Trigg as the new GRPD chief has limited news coverage of the most recent GRPD assault, which was caught on video. The video has been making the rounds on social media, thus the GRPD – which hates this kind of exposure – decided to put out the following statement:

GRPD would like to address a video showing a use of force that is circulating online. As with so many videos of this type, everything that happened before the clip and everything that happened after are not shown, so viewers do not have the full context of the interaction.

During this traffic stop, the front seat passenger, an adult male, was not wearing a seatbelt, which is a legal and valid reason to ask for ID. The passenger refused. After multiple refusals, the passenger was ordered out of the car, which was again met with refusal and resistance. After several refusals to exit the vehicle and to identify himself, officers advised the passenger that he was under arrest and performed a trained extraction technique. The passenger continued to resist, bracing his feet against the floor and his hands against the ceiling of the vehicle. He continued to actively resist, bracing himself in the vehicle with his legs and pushing at officers’ hands as they attempted to extract him from the vehicle. Ultimately a palm heel strike was used, which caused the passenger to release the pressure holding him inside the vehicle. The force with which his body exited the vehicle injured an officer, who suffered a broken leg and potential ligament damage. The passenger was medically cleared before being lodged at KCCF. He has since been charged.

There were multiple opportunities for this individual to comply before force was used. GRPD’s policies, including MOP 9-1 De-escalation, Response to Resistance, and Use of Force, are publicly available on GRPD’s website https://www.grandrapidsmi.gov/departments/police-department/ or directly through this link: https://public.powerdms.com/GRANDRAPIDS/tree/documents/89670

Like all uses of force, this incident will be reviewed.

OK, so lets be clear here about this GRPD statement, which is designed to not only to control the narrative about what happened but to dismiss any other interpretation of what happened. With this statement the GRPD is essentially telling the public not to trust what they see, since we apparently don’t have the “full context.” Here is what we do know:

• The person that the GRPD is repeatedly hitting is Afghani.
• The video is happening while the car is parked in a driveway.
• People have the right to remain silent in any and all instances.
• People do not have to produce an ID when asked to do so by the cops.
• The GRPD could have simply asked the person they were assaulting what his name was and run a check before demanding an ID.
• The GRPD could have used other non-force tactics to have a conversation with the person they were assaulting.
• The GRPD could have simply issued a citation and walked away.

But here is the thing. The GRPD hates, like all cops, more than anything else people who do not comply and people who are not obedient. Cops operate under the belief that because they are cops, have a badge, a gun and numerous other weapons on them at all times so the public will simply say yes sir or right away officer. Well guess what, more and more people every day are being non-compliant, they are refusing to obey illegitimate authority, indeed they are being defiant.

The GRPD and all cops will do whatever they want to people who are non-compliant and most of the time they will get away with it. The laws are written to benefit cops, which are nothing more than state carceral violence workers.

The young person who was assaulted in the video will likely be charged with failure to obey an officer, resisting arrest and they might even be charged with assaulting an officer, since one of the GRPD cops was injured during their process of forcibly removing this young man.

As a result there are renewed calls for community forums to talk about policing. Such forums are generally managed events that lead to no clear action apart from some mild reformist bullshit that ends up costing taxpayers even more money.

This is exactly why the Movement for Black Lives has been calling for the defunding and abolition of the police since 2020. This is why groups like Critical Resistance have been calling for the abolition of cops for the last several decades. The police do not really prevent crime or reduce community violence. In fact, policing causes more violence and uses crucial public funds, like the $75.4 million for FY2027. Imagine if $75.4 million annually was going to meet community needs instead of funding the GRPD. We need community care, not cops!