LANSING — The director of the Michigan State Police, Col. James Grady, stood by his management decisions during more than 90 minutes of testimony and sometimes heated questioning by Michigan lawmakers on Tuesday, July 1.
At the end of the hearing, the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, Rep. Jay DeBoyer, R-Clay Township, said overwhelmingly low confidence levels among MSP troopers and command officers, shown in recent union surveys, remains the key issue for him.
DeBoyer, who invited Grady to return to the committee for a progress report in four to six months, said his investigation of MSP leadership will continue, as will closed-door questioning of MSP personnel and retirees.
Grady, appointed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to head the MSP in September 2023, testified before a joint meeting of the House Oversight Committee and the House Appropriations subcommittee responsible for the MSP budget. Grady said crime is down, MSP members are doing their jobs on a daily basis and when he visits with troopers in the field, they frequently “tell me how happy they are.”
That caused DeBoyer to interject. “The results of the survey, with all due respect, says otherwise,” DeBoyer told Grady. “When you see that level of lack of confidence, that’s very concerning to us as legislators.”
In surveys of members conducted with more than 75% participation, more than 90% of command officers and 98% of troopers expressed non-confidence in Grady and his controversial choice as the MSP’s chief deputy director, Lt. Col. Aimee Brimacombe, the union announced last month.
State Rep. Jaime Greene, R-Richmond, read Grady comments from a state-conducted employee engagement survey that included multiple references to fears of retaliation for speaking out about MSP leadership. One comment Greene read referred to a “culture of fear and isolation.”
Grady said he and his command officers will continue to do their best to improve morale and he will continue to make himself accessible to officers and civilians at all levels of the MSP. He said he does not believe most people in the MSP fear retaliation, noted the survey Greene was quoting from was an anonymous one, and said some of what was written in the survey appeared to be “copycat responses.”
The Michigan Legislative Black Caucus and others have complained that Grady is confronting longstanding concerns over race, promotions, and recruitment and retention that predate him as police agencies across the country are having trouble attracting and retaining officers. Rep. Amos O’Neal, D-Saginaw, who chairs the caucus, said that as a Black man, Grady is being held to a higher standard. DeBoyer and others counter that the confidence numbers speak for themselves and their concerns about MSP morale are not race-related.
Among the issues committee members raised with Grady were:
Promotions
Grady selected Brimacombe as his No. 2 officer when she had confirmed disciplinary investigations on her record, including putting thousands of miles on a state vehicle and being insubordinate when told to return the vehicle, and abusing the internal affairs process by making a false report about another officer.
Grady said he sought a leadership team with diverse skills and experience and Brimacombe is an attorney with more than 25 years of experience in the MSP, though he conceded she had never supervised troopers until he promoted her four ranks from first lieutenant to lieutenant colonel.
As for her record of discipline, “do we hold the rain cloud over someone’s head forever, for the rest of their career?” he asked.
Having troopers’ backs
Rep. Angela Rigas, R-Alto, asked Grady why he made a public statement and suspended MSP Det. Sgt. Brian Keely without pay for his involvement in a fatal chase that killed 25-year-old Samuel Sterling in Kentwood, near Grand Rapids, but issued no supportive statement recently when a federal judge dismissed criminal charges against the ex-sergeant.
“Do you think that has something to do with the low morale in your department?” Rigas asked Grady.
Grady said that he has a chance to quickly review videos and receive briefings after such an incident and he stands by his statements and decisions because “I have way more information than anyone else does.”
As for the recent dismissal, “the last I checked, this was being appealed, so that possibly isn’t over yet.”
Dispute with county prosecutors
Rep. Mike Mueller, R-Linden, asked Grady about his 2024 directive that takes use of deadly force cases involving troopers and investigations of many other alleged crimes by state employees out of the hands of county prosecutors in favor of the attorney general.
The policy change has drawn sharp criticism from the Prosecuting Attorneys Association of Michigan and individual prosecutors such as Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy.
Mueller suggested that troopers facing potential criminal investigations would feel less secure with cases being handled by the state attorney general, rather than the local prosecutor. “You don’t think that policy contributed to low morale?” Mueller asked Grady.
Grady replied that he did not think so. He said the policy change, which has the support of Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, was intended to assure consistency in how such cases are handled around the state.
Not discussed at the hearing were controversial closed-door depositions DeBoyer’s committee held in recent weeks with high-ranking MSP officers and one retiree. None of those who were deposed was mentioned by name at the hearing.
Records obtained by the Detroit Free Press June 30 show the committee has sent notices for depositions to be conducted between July 8 and 10, to two additional MSP officers and one civilian: Lt. Col. Michael Krumm, Inspector Lisa Gee-Cram, and Heather Luebs, a civilian whose LinkedIn page describes her as a “strategic thinker, cultural transformation analyst, and project manager” at the MSP.
DeBoyer accused the MSP of leaking to the news media the names of those the committee is deposing. He described that as an appalling attempt to intimidate witnesses.
Grady said during his testimony he would look into that allegation.
Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Col. James Grady defends management decisions during session with Michigan lawmakers
Reporting by Paul Egan, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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