ANN ARBOR, MI - Excessive force. Incarceration disparity. Police accountability.

Four of Washtenaw County’s criminal justice leaders fielded questions on topics like these during a town hall forum in Ann Arbor Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

The Jan. 20 event was part of the Ministers Alliance of Ypsilanti, Ann Arbor and Vicinity’s MLK Day program, which started with a 9 a.m. march from the Washtenaw County Courthouse, 101 E. Huron St., to New Hope Baptist Church, 218 Chapin St.

The panel consisted of Washtenaw County Sheriff Jerry Clayton, Washtenaw County Prosecutor Brian Mackie, Ann Arbor Police Chief Michael Cox and Ypsilanti Police Chief Anthony DeGiusti.

MLK Day program in Ann Arbor includes townhall with county’s justice leaders

U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Dearborn, attended, as well as candidates for the 22nd Circuit Court judge and Washtenaw County prosecutor seats in this year’s election. Mackie is retiring by the end of the year.

Clayton opened with a statement on his vision for public safety in the county.

“We want to embrace this national movement around criminal and social justice reform,” he said. “I do not believe you can have one without the other...What I hear a lot (is that) some of these reforms will make us less safe. I do not believe that is the case.”

One reform example he suggested was lowering the punishment for driving-related offenses to civic infractions in order to keep people out of jail.

Cox relayed his plan for “community-oriented policing,” which he said means sending his officers to neighborhoods to familiarize themselves with the needs of residents.

“The plan is to hopefully get officers out there, out of their cars,” Cox said, “getting to know people in a much better way, where we build trust (and) start to understand some of the cultures.”

Mackie echoed his colleagues’ sentiments, while DeGiusti concluded opening remarks by saying his department focuses on “treating people with dignity.”

One question that occupied a large chunk of the panel regarded the excessive use of force. Cox said that fear can push officers into making bad decisions.

“A lot of that fear sometimes has to do with not knowing who people are, not knowing cultures, not understanding what these folks deal with,” he said. “We need to reduce that fear by exposing each other to one another.”

National media reporting of police interactions with minorities have “eroded public trust,” and the statistics tell another story, DeGiusti said.

“Less than 2% of all encounters with citizens across the United States result in any use of force whatsoever,” he said. “That’s not to mitigate what happens...We need to look closer to home, as opposed to the national picture, and see what’s going on in your own community.”

A 2015 study by the U.S. Justice Department found that 1.8% of police interactions resulted in “threats or use of force.”

In an exchange about the racial disparity in incarceration rates, Clayton said the problem is not about individual officers, but institutional racism.

“It is a result of an institutional bias that exists in this profession,” he said. “Washtenaw County is not immune to this. My hope over the next four to six years is that we start to break that cycle.”

According to a 2017 Pew Research study, black people represented 33% of the sentenced prison population, despite representing just 12% of U.S. adults.

“There are a number of people that need to be in jail, because they are predators and a risk,” Clayton said. “Honestly though, there are a number of people in jail that don’t need to be.”

Mackie takes things, such as victimization, educational opportunities and social disadvantages into account as a prosecutor, he said.

“All those things are a piece to this social fabric that we have,” he said. “Quite frankly, these things have disadvantaged minorities across the board...it’s not just criminal justice, but it’s a societal problem that needs to be addressed.”

The Rev. Rodrick Green, pastor at the church and organizer of this year’s forum, said he found the responses “honest and forthcoming.”

“I think they’re interested in engaging with the community,” he said. “We engage with them, they engage with us...The fact that they’re here says they’re interested in our well being, because they didn’t have to show up.”