DETROIT – The Detroit Police Oversight Board launched an online dashboard of citizen complaints against the department and its officers.
Thousands of complaints dating back more than a decade are being redacted and will be posted after the New Year.
The names of the officers and citizens and other personal information will be redacted. However, the rest of the complaint will be made public.
In the meantime, the dashboard that launched Wednesday (Nov. 20) features various data, including the number of complaints, their status, and other information like race and gender.
“It’s vitally important that the city of Detroit get all the information that we get," said Detroit Board of Police Commissioners Chair Darryl Woods. “We wanted to be as transparent as we possibly can.”
At least one of the three Detroit police unions is unhappy with the decision.
“I think it’s inappropriate because many of those cases have not been adjudicated,” President of the Detroit Police Lieutenants and Sergeants Association Mark Young said. “The data that’s put in there does an injustice to the men and women who risk their life every day.”
When asked about pushback, Woods said the dashboard will be beneficial for everyone.
“There’s a lot of bogus complaints out there, but there are a lot of real complaints out there, and we want to decipher that, and you’ll be able to see for yourself and read for yourself what you deem to be a true complaint and what you deem not to be a true complaint,” Woods said.