LANSING — The controversial No. 2 officer at the Michigan State Police will retire effective May 1, state records show.
Lt. Col. Aimee Brimacombe, the MSP’s chief deputy director, identified May 1 as her effective retirement date in a Jan. 29 state police pension application filed with the Michigan Office of Retirement Services.
The Detroit Free Press obtained the pension filing through a Michigan Freedom of Information Act request.
Earlier, MSP officials said in January that Brimacombe would retire “in the coming months,” but would not be more specific. Brimacombe has not responded to emailed questions. When a Free Press reporter emailed Brimacombe on March 12, he received an automated reply that said she will be out of the office until the beginning of April.
Brimacombe has been at the center of controversies since Col. James Grady promoted her up four ranks, from first lieutenant, in December 2023, despite having recent discipline on her record.
Both Brimacombe and Grady received overwhelming votes of non-confidence in June from two MSP unions, one representing troopers and one representing command officers. Also, Republican lawmakers have called for the two MSP leaders to resign or be fired, but Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who named Grady the MSP director in September 2023, has stood behind Grady, who stood behind Brimacombe.
Brimacombe, a lawyer who went through recruit school with Grady, received a five-day suspension in 2021 for using an MSP vehicle for personal purposes, over a six-month period, and for being “insubordinate” when she refused to immediately return the vehicle as directed, records the Detroit Free Press obtained under Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act show.
Brimacombe was also at the center of a significant controversy over an alleged MSP excessive use of force case and an unusual $999,999 settlement the MSP paid to the brother of one of Brimacombe’s Facebook friends.
Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: FOIA request reveals retirement date for controversial MSP leader
Reporting by Paul Egan, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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