The Michigan Court of Appeals has ruled the City of Sault Sainte Marie must make public its police use-of-force policy.
A unanimous appeal court panel held the city could not redact large portions of its policy on a vague argument of protecting officers’ safety.
Stephen van Stempvoort is an attorney for the ACLU and the Michigan Press Association. He says the public is safer and police officers are safer when the rules are clear.
“If everybody knows what the parameters of the interaction between an officer and a citizen are, then everybody will be able to adjust accordingly. Right? There won’t be as many mistakes that are made," Stempvoort said.
The opinion noted the Michigan State Police and many other law enforcement agencies make their use-of-force policies public. The decision can be appealed to the Michigan Supreme Court.