Officials review if request for Lansing sex sting was appropriate

LANSING — A variety of city officials, from council members to the mayor’s office to the city attorney, are trying to figure out what to do about the case of Jan Kolp, a Board of Police Commissioners member who said on Friday that she placed a call to the police’s special operations unit which triggered a controversial May sex-sting operation in a city nature center. Kolp, who is a year into her second four-year term on the commission, maintains that when she asked special operations unit to take action, she did so as a citizen and leader in a neighborhood group bordering the park.

But some are saying that it may be inappropriate for board officials to make such call, which could be leaning in the direction of special treatment.

“Whenever you are a police commissioner or city council member or you’re mayor, you have to be careful what you say, how you say it, because it’s taken with a greater weight,” said Eric Hewitt, who represents the city’s First Ward. Hewitt said he was unable to say without further investigation if Kolp had acted inappropriately.

The Lansing Board of Police Commissioners is tasked by the city charter with overseeing and approving the department’s budget, writing and adopting policies and procedures for the department and is the only body in the city, other than prosecutors, to reprimand officers up to and including the chief.

Kolp told Michigan Messenger on Friday: “I wasn’t calling as a police commissioner, I was calling as a person who has lived on Forest Road for 40 years and president of Forestview Neighborhood Association … I would hope they would handle anyone’s complaint the same way.”

Brigham Smith, the Lansing City attorney, said he did not believe the commissioner had done anything “illegal” or “inappropriate.” An email sent Saturday to members of the Lansing Board of Police Commissioners, Chief Mark Alley, and other city officials asked what policies and procedures were in place to handle when appointed and other officials called employees working in the departments being overseen by the official.

None of those officials had responded to the 19 questions by press time. The emails of two of the members of the Board of Police Commissioners were returned as undeliverable.

In an interview Sunday, Lansing City Council member Carol Wood said she has asked about what training appointed board and commissions receive every year as part of the city’s budget process. “In my years of asking, I have not received adequate information as to what is happening,” said Wood, who is running for mayor. “What I need to do is hear both sides of the story,” said Wood, when asked if Kolp had done anything wrong. “If [Kolp] hadn’t had adequate training I can understand where she might have felt her decision was fine.”

“This [situation] might, at the very least, require a review of those policies and procedures,” said Brian Jeffries, an at-large member of the council. “By setting up a policy or procedure that way you get rid of all this appearance of somebody using their authority inappropriately. And again I don’t believe she did.”

Jeffries, who has served as the president of the council, said he believes it is moving in the right direction with a public safety committee hearing on the operation on Wednesday at 11:30 a.m.

“We don’t control our appointees,” said Randy Hannan, a spokesman for Mayor Virgil Bernero, when asked about the situation. He declined to discuss the situation further, deferring the mayor who did not return calls seeking comment.

Police pledges an end to additional sex-sting operations

While city officials were struggling with the questions of whether Kolp acted appropriately or not, leaders of the police department — including Lansing Police Chief Mark Alley, North Precinct Captain Ray Hall and South Precinct Captain Teresa Szymanski — met Monday afternoon with Bernadette Brown, policy director of the Detroit-based Triangle Foundation.

The foundation, which works with victims of hate crimes and issues related to police harassment, was part of a coalition, including Michigan Messenger, City Pulse newspaper and the Lansing Association for Human Rights, that has been seeking details on the sex-sting operation through a Freedom of Information Act request, which has been denied thus far by the city, including on appeal at Monday night’s council meeting.

Such operations in recent years in other parts of the state have sparked concerns of police entrapment and unfair tactics targeting the gay community.

The officials met to discuss concerns the gay community had about the operation, as well as ways the police and community can work together to stop the alleged sexual activity in the park. “We had a very productive meeting with Chief Mark Alley and two of his precinct captains,” Brown said in an email Monday evening. “Chief Alley and his department appear staunchly committed to ensuring that the law is applied fairly and justly to everyone, and they firmly reiterated their respect for all community members. They requested our input and were very responsive to our concerns. We look forward to working with them in the future to address these issues.”

Hall, who oversees the special operations unit, said the sex-stings were over.

“We don’t find there’s any justification to conduct anymore sting operations of a similar nature. I can’t imagine a time when that’ll change,” Hall said in an interview.

Hall also clarified that police do not have a warrant out for the arrest of a third person as originally reported by Lansing police. “We reviewed the complaint and didn’t find it warranted being pursued,” Hall said. Two men were arrested in the May 22 sting operation, and charges are currently being considered by Smith, the city attorney.

Smith told the city council members on Monday he would make a decision on whether to charge or not “shortly.” He said that the men were placed in handcuffs, booked at the Lansing jail and bonded out as part of their arrests, not just issued citations.

Request for sex-sting documents rebuffed by city

Officials are continuing to deny a Freedom of Information Act request for documents and other information related to the May sex sting. On June 10, the Lansing Police Department declined to release the arrest reports from the undercover operation, citing privacy concerns and issues surrounding the right of the accused to receive a fair trail. The department also declined to release internal communications which may shed some light into what high ranking officials knew about the operations and when. Officials, including the mayor, the police chief and Lansing Parks and Recreation Director Murdock Jemerson, have all claimed they knew nothing about the operation until it was over.

The coalition seeking additional information appealed the denial in a letter to Lansing City Council President Derrick Quinney last Wednesday. He made his decision prior to city council members formally accepting the appeal, and without consultation with several council members. Quinney declined to discuss his decision at last night’s meeting.

During the meeting, and after, Smith claimed the denial was made to protect the privacy rights of the men who had been arrested. He said the request was “premature.” In order to address the privacy concerns as well as concerns that police procedures would be revealed with the release of internal communications, the coalition specifically asked in its appeal for the city to redact that information from the released documents.

Redaction of material in such situations is a common move by authorities when there are concerns such as those raised in the denial. But when asked to explain why the city was refusing to redact the materials, Smith declined to answer.

Wood said she was “baffled” by the decision to uphold the denial and the city attorney’s reasoning. “I just don’t understand it at this point. I am baffled. I am baffled at the whole thing,” Wood said. “It should be an interesting Wednesday,” referring to the scheduled Public Safety Commission hearing on the matter.