Farmington Hills Police Chief Responds To Using Black Men As Shooting Targets

FARMINGTON HILLS, MI — Farmington Hills Police Chief Jeff King apologized to the community during a Monday night city council meeting after residents were outraged when they discovered the police department using targets of black men at their shooting range.

Residents said they found the targets from a Boy Scouts troop that was touring the police department's building and questioned why silhouettes were not used instead.

"I wanted to express my outrage when I found out that actual images of Black men were used for target practice," a woman said at the podium.

Moreover, Farmington Hills Councilman Micheal Bridges also questioned why the targets were used instead of silhouettes, especially when twenty percent of the Farmington Hills population is African American.

"Silhouette would have been most appropriate; I don't see a good reason to use those targets, I don't really at all," Bridges said.

King said the targets are used to train officers to monitor and guard against implicit biases. He also reiterated the department uses various targets of all colors and genders.

"This is the preferred method to train officers and prepare them to make a split-second decision to make a life-saving or non threat situation," King said.

But King acknowledged the troop deserved a better explanation and the need for an independent review to investigate the department's use of target demographics.

"I'll take this one on the chin. I apologize to each and every person in this room, this community, my department, my city council, my city manager; I can't overlook this," King said. "I promise you this will make us stronger, this will makes us better, make us more transparent."

Farmington Hills Police Officer Kevin Clark said officers train with the various targets that are black, white and gray to help them react with proper judgment within a split second.

"I have never been trained to shoot at any particular race, gender, age, or anything of this nature," Clark said. "The reason various targets are used is to work through what everyone has. It’s an implicit bias."

However, a concerned Farmington Hills woman rebuffed Clark's statement, holding photographs she said were taken by a parent from the troop during the visit to the department's basement where the targets were.

"What I see here is these are actually black men in hoodies and they are actually holding guns, and they are actually Black men, they are not black, gray or white," she said.

Councilmember Ken Massey said that officers use 2,300 images in target practice and 185 are of Black men.

Farmington Hills Mayor Vicki Barnett said she believes the department was following routine training practices, but those targets in question were taken down.

"When we took these down, I owned it," Barnett said. "We're going to do a full investigation and you'll be aware of all those steps."