LANSING — Capt. Michael Brown, the Michigan State Police district commander who was a Republican candidate for governor in 2022, is retiring Sept. 1 after an internal affairs investigation found he failed to properly report a mistake made by troopers under his supervision.
"The bottom line is, I made a mistake on policy and I took responsibility for it," Brown told the Free Press on Sunday.
The suspensions at the 5th District, which involve two other senior officers in addition to Brown, are the latest in a series of high-ranking departures at the MSP, which has been in turmoil in the wake of a promotions and test-rigging scandal at the Flint post late last year that ended five careers, plus other recent departures of high-ranking officer s.
Brown, the commander of the MSP's 5th District in Paw Paw in southwestern Michigan, was placed on administrative leave July 16, along with the assistant district commander and a detective lieutenant.
The discipline was in response to an incident last August when members of the 5th District fugitive team arrested a suspect in Indiana and transported the woman to Michigan without following extradition proceedings required by law and by MSP policy.
MSP spokespeople did not respond to questions Monday about Brown or discipline for the other two high-ranking 5th District officers involved.
Brown said the Indiana incident involved young troopers and he chose to treat it as a training issue. But under MSP policy, he was supposed to report the incident to the MSP's professional standards section, which is more commonly known as internal affairs.
"I should have looked at the policy," Brown said.
Brown said he had intended to remain with the MSP until the summer of 2025 but agreed to retire early to resolve disciplinary action against him. He was facing a recommended demotion, which he disagreed with, he said.
"It's been a great run," said Brown, who started with the MSP 36 years ago as a trooper at the St. Joseph post, which no longer exists.
He said he has high regard for the MSP and nothing negative to say about it. He does not feel he was targeted for becoming a candidate to challenge Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in the 2022 election, he said.
Brown was one of five Republican candidates for governor removed from the August 2022 primary ballot due to significant numbers of forged signatures on the required petitions they submitted to the state. Brown withdrew his name voluntarily after learning about the forged signatures. Four other candidates, including the presumed front-runner, former Detroit Police Chief James Craig, had their names removed by the Board of State Canvassers.
Norton Shores businesswoman Tudor Dixon won the Republican primary and lost to Whitmer by more than 10 percentage points in the November 2022 general election.
In the earlier and unrelated scandal at the Flint post, an internal affairs investigation determined that four promotions from trooper to sergeant and three promotions from sergeant to lieutenant were rigged under the leadership of the former Flint post commander, 1st Lt. Yvonne Brantley, who was forced to retire early in 2024 or be fired, according to records the Free Press obtained under Michigan's Freedom of Information Act.
Brown, a lifelong Michigan resident and former U.S. Marine, is a graduate of Siena Heights University in Adrian. He is a former member of the Berrien County Board of Commissioners.
In a Wednesday email to MSP colleagues, Brown noted some of the agency's accomplishments he played a role in and the many changes he has seen over his career.
"The one thing that is constant are the men and women that go out every day to keep the communities safe," Brown said in the email. "I am proud to say I have always stood with them."
Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@freepress.com. Follow him on X, @paulegan4.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: MSP captain who ran for governor is latest forced departure after failing to report error
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