Ypsilanti Police Department Union voted a no confidence in their current Police Chief Kirk Moore on Feb. 6. Chief Moore took office on April 20 of last year and is still expected to complete his four-year contract.
Moore is facing difficulties in the department, such as low staffing and low morale, that coincide with the vote in no confidence, and little support has been extended to the Police Chief.
Some of the difficulties during his short term have included the 13 total resignations from officers that have taken place, resistance to change, and how poor mental health standings of officers have also led to officers leaving the force.
According to MLive, concerning officers being resistant to change, Chief Moore wants to prioritize servant leadership and community service. Due to these implementations, former officers who did not want to partake resigned due to conflicting interests. Although the union cannot nor has the ability to remove the Chief through this vote, the responsibility of removal from the position of Chief falls upon the City Charter.
The Eastern Echo reached out to the police department, and the fellow officers have no comment on the vote at the moment. There are currently no ongoing investigations into the department about the vote of no confidence. The union has also chosen not to speak further on the vote.
Since the recent staffing struggles, the Ypsilanti Police Department has received help from other departments, such as the Department of Public Safety at EMU. When speaking to DPS during a ride-along in February, Lieutenant Nathaniel Stead talked about the effort to assist in Ypsilanti calls.
“There's no hiding that the Ypsilanti Police Department has had some staffing issues recently. We do help them out on occasion. You probably see during the ride along tonight, primarily Ypsilanti will send a police officer to handle the call and we'll be a backup unit,” Lieutenant Stead said. “That's kind of just a mutual agreement that we have come to. The Ypsilanti community, the Eastern community, we are kind of all one. So Ypsi problems are kind of our problems. Our problems are kind of Ypsi problems. And we've got a really good working relationship with them. We're trying to get them through their hard time right now until they get their staffing levels back up.”
In terms of the Ypsilanti Mayor Nicole Brown’s support for the Chief, according to MLive, Brown said “However, it is paramount that we prioritize the greater good over individual interests, and stand firmly behind our Chief as he strives to enact meaningful reform and ensure the highest standards of professionalism within our police force."
With the speculation around the topic, Mayor Brown offers solidarity with the Chief of Police.
