GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- Two recent “disturbing” arrest videos of black and Latino people by Grand Rapids police were the last straw in a recurring pattern of alleged racial discrimination by the force, according to Michigan Department of Civil Rights officials.

“If you look at the videos, they’re disturbing,” Agustin V. Arbulu, executive director of the Michigan Department of Civil Rights, said. “You have to ask, ‘Would a similar outcome take place if they had been white teenagers or if the driver was white?’ Those are the things that concern me which would indicate that practices are not fair and equitable.”

Arbulu’s department on Tuesday announced they were holding a public meeting March 28 to hear community concerns and determine if those concerns merit a formal investigation into the department.

The Michigan Department of Civil Rights has heard complaints about past incidents involving Grand Rapids police handcuffing black youths at gunpoint. He said they hoped policy changes at the department implemented in the wake of those incidents would stifle any further incidents.

It was apparent his office needed to step in, he said, after two videos emerged this month, one of a city officer punching a black man in the thigh up to 30 times to force his compliance and another of officers holding two Latino teens at gunpoint after they repeatedly refused to show their hands when demanded.

“We’re concerned that we have recurrences,” he said. “We’re trying to understand why it continues to reoccur every so often in Grand Rapids.”

Grand Rapids spokesperson Amy Snow-Buckner said the city couldn’t offer comment, as the department hadn’t contacted them. The city manager’s office did contact Arbulu’s department, but Snow-Buckner said she wasn’t aware of what was said.

Arbulu called the hearing a “serious step” that the department hasn’t done to a police department in at least seven years. A time and place for the meeting has yet to be set.

“A number of residents have called for the department to hold a hearing to do an investigation or take some other action, given that they believe the Grand Rapids Police Department is discriminatory, that they have entrenched discriminatory practices,” he said.

“We want to hear from residents, community members, hear their concerns and from there assess what our next steps will be, and that may entail delving deeper into a few of these incidents or a number of these incidents.”

If an investigation is launched, civil rights department officials would research incidents, talk to the parties involved, compile their findings and come to a conclusion on whether the Grand Rapids Police Department is in violation of the Michigan’s anti-discrimination law, the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act.

The eight-member Michigan Civil Rights Commission would review the findings and conclusion and allow the city or police department to refute them before making a ruling.

The civil rights department can compel the police department to take part in further training and/or pay monetary fines and damages, should the commission rule they’ve violated the act. In addition, the civil rights department has the power to subpoena.

The findings and conclusion of the potential investigation would be public through the Freedom of Information Act, Arbulu said.

Grand Rapids police have come under fire in the past two years over interactions with young minorities. One of those was the December 2017 handcuffing of 11-year-old Honestie Hodges at gunpoint.

Another, in March 2017, saw five young men ages 12 to 15 stopped at gunpoint by police, handcuffed and questioned because the youths fit the description of a group with a gun, according to police. The group was innocent.

No weapons were found.

In Aug. 26, 2018, police were responding to reports of two black teens with a handgun when they stopped two 11-year-old twin boys and a 17-year-old male. The group was ordered to walk backward at gunpoint before they were handcuffed and searched for weapons.

No weapons were found.

Finally, on Oct. 9 of last year, police responded to reports of a shooting and ordered a 12-year-old black girl to walk backward at gunpoint before she was handcuffed and searched for weapons. They did not do so to her 10-year-old brother.