Peaceful Protests: What Madison Learned from Ferguson that Michigan Knew All Along

As Black Lives Matter demonstrations are organized around the country, including this one in New York City in November, the Michigan Department of Civil Rights is touting its two-decade-old program that opens the lines of communication between police and the communities they serve. (Photo via Wikimedia/Creative Commons)

» Get Patch’s daily newsletter and e-alerts.

The leader of the state’s Department of Civil Rights thinks Michigan can be a role model for building trust between communities and the police departments that serve them – especially when tensions are accelerated by incidents such as the police shooting of an unarmed black teen in Madison, WI, Friday.

Unlike the police shooting of Michael Brown by a Ferguson police officer, which set off weeks of protests marked by arson, looting and other violence, the protests in Madison have been peaceful for the most part.

The lesson that Madison police apparently learned from the Ferguson protests was something that Michigan communities have known for some time: Keep the channels of communication open, Matt Wesaw, executive director of the state civil rights department, told Michigan Radio.

He said the state is “well above the curve” in building harmony among police and the communities they serve because new programs were developed almost two decades ago in response to complaints of racial profiling and harassment.

“As a result of that, the decision was made – involving U.S. attorneys, other high-level law enforcement folks, government leaders, faith-based leaders, community leaders – to sit down at the table and talk,” Wesaw said.

Tell Us:

• What letter grade – A, B, C, D or F – would you give your police department in the transparency of its communications with the public?

The outreach program known as ALPACT – Advocates and Leaders for Police and Community Trust – works to “develop better lines of communication and also gain an understanding of, on the law enforcement side, why we do what we do and how we do it,” he said.

In Ferguson, Wesaw noted there was “absolutely zero trust there, zero communication.”

The program’s impact was tested recently in two recent incidents in Michigan.

In 2013, activists protested the porch shooting of Renisha McBride, a young African American female, by a white male in Dearborn Heights. Police implored the protesters to give them time to assess the situation, and late last year, Theodore Wafer, the homeowner who had argued self-defense was convicted in her murder.

“The civil unrest, the destruction of relationships, and quite honestly community property was averted,” Wesaw said.

Also on Patch:

• How Law to Help Cops Arrest Drugged Drivers Went Terribly Wrong
• Arab Festival Protesters Argue Free Speech, Religious Freedom Before 6th Circuit
• U.S. Government Supports Transgendered Teen in Detroit Lawsuit
• Sharpton Operative Offends Jews for Comparing Flint Water to ‘Gas Chambers’
• Investigators Scratching Heads Over Bullets in Prisoner’s Breakfast Tray

In another case resolved last winter, local prosecutors and the Department of Justice determined Saginaw police were justified when they shot Milton Hall, a mentally ill homeless man, 47 times in 2012.

The decision wasn’t the one wanted by activists who demanded action against the six officers involved in the shooting, but the process worked under the ALPACT guidelines, Wesaw said.

“... Through that trust that was built up, through the communication, a lot of community unrest also was averted and that in turn spurred more communication, more work that has to be done, but it’s work that’s being done now, together as a community instead of an ‘us against them’ type of thing,” he said.

ALPACT has chapters in Detroit, Saginaw, Flint, Benton Harbor and Grand Rapids.