Advisory commission reports partial FOIA fulfillment for county policies, explores LEAP and non‑police response options

The Ypsilanti Police Advisory Commission on May 28 reported partial success in Freedom of Information Act requests to the county: some publicly‑facing policies were released, but several operational documents — including use‑of‑force details and post‑incident review procedures — were denied as exempt from disclosure.

Commissioners said the redacted or denied materials limit the advisory body's ability to evaluate internal post‑incident procedures and to compare Ypsilanti policy against county or regional practices. The commission said it had received public‑facing vehicle pursuit policies and some mutual‑aid agreements, but requests for operational instructions and certain post‑incident review procedures were declined, with the county citing exemptions available under state law.

At the meeting, commissioners discussed focusing the commission's review on a short list of policies — notably use‑of‑force, de‑escalation and vehicle pursuit — and agreed to formulate three or four focused questions to send to the chief and county officials.

The commission also discussed LEAP (Law Enforcement Action Partnership) and local co‑response options. Commissioners compared the county's existing co‑response pilot, run by Community Mental Health (which pairs deputies with master's‑level clinicians), to LEAP's proposed city‑level model, and asked whether LEAP would field masters‑level clinicians or use volunteers and what triage and dispatch arrangements would be required. A participant reminded commissioners that a locally run non‑police pilot (Carebased Safety) had operated successfully on a place‑based model but recently shut down after funding ended.

Why it matters: Commissioners said the public deserves stronger transparency about policies that govern use of force and mutual‑aid deployments; the denials of operational documents leave open questions about how after‑action reviews are conducted and who makes tactical decisions during multi‑jurisdictional responses.

Next steps: Commissioners agreed to draft prioritized questions for the chief, seek available comparative policy examples (including a council presentation from LEAP given last year), and invite LEAP and other local response partners to a future meeting to explain program models and triage proposals.