Don't fight with police, Detroit chief advises youth

Terrence Sherrer was skeptical.

The 15-year-old from Canton had just watched a group role-play a traffic stop.

The Detroit officer seemed satisfied when he asked where the driver was headed. To the mall, he was told. Other questions got similar, brief responses, and the advice from the driver, retired Wayne County Sheriff's Lt. Tyrone Carter, was that you have a right not to say a lot.

Terrence spoke up.

"I just feel like that wouldn't happen a lot of places," Terrence said, noting that police could get nervous, especially when a driver reaches for his wallet or his proof of insurance and registration. "A lot of people have still been shot."

Terrence, who is black, said the encounter would probably be different if the officer was white and had stopped a car with three black people inside. In this case, the officer was black, too.

That conversation was part of a two-hour program organized by the B.A.L.L. (Bridging Athletic, Learning and Life Skills) Foundation held today in Detroit. It brought about 50 people, including officers from Detroit Police and the Department of Natural Resources — which is involved in patrolling Belle Isle — parents and children to the East Campus of Triumph Church on East Grand Boulevard in Detroit.

Helping kids interact with police was the goal of the session. Don't argue with the police, announce what you're doing when you reach toward the glove compartment, or better yet, keep your license and registration in an overhead glasses compartment. Being able to tell your story if you are wronged during a traffic stop or any other interaction with the police is the key, according to Carter.

The event featured an address by Detroit Police Chief James Craig, who spoke about the journey that brought him to head the Detroit Police Department and the challenges that the police departments he served on, including Los Angeles, Portland, Maine, and Cincinnati, experienced with race and community.

He referenced two recent, well-known fatal interactions with police — Eric Garner on Staten Island and Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. — and the outcry, protests and distrust of police that followed across the country.

"Detroit's not a Ferguson, absolutely not a Ferguson," Craig said, noting the connection Detroit's department has with the community.

Craig encouraged the audience not to paint all police with the same brush. He said police officers are like any other group of people — most good and some bad. He noted the change in attitude about the police since the days after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks when police were widely viewed as heroes. And he reminded the audience that it was two white officers who saved then-7-year-old India Williams' life by rushing her to the hospital after she was shot while riding a bike in Detroit last September.

Craig also passed on the advice his own father had given him: "Do not argue with the police. Do not fight with the police. Bad things happen."

If an officer mistreats you or engages in an unethical traffic stop, report it, because there's a process to deal with those situations, Craig said.

But Bill Larkin, 63, of Detroit was not convinced.

"Why should my grandson have to act a certain way when (he's) dealing with a police officer," different than if he was white, Larkin said. "Why should any of these young men have to act a certain way when they're dealing with a police officer?"

Contact Eric D. Lawrence: elawrence@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter: @_ericdlawrence