Detroit dismissing tickets issued to protest observers

Following months of pressure from police watchdogs, the City of Detroit is in the process of dismissing tickets issued to five people at two separate pro-Palestinian demonstrations this spring. The individuals were serving as legal observers for the Detroit and Michigan Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild.

Legal observers are trained to monitor and document law enforcement actions during demonstrations, with an eye toward protecting protesters’ First Amendment rights. Detroit police issued tickets to Taylor Cole, Wendy Richardson and Lisa Carlson at a March protest for allegedly impeding traffic. In April, Emily Nakisher and Anna Stabnick were cited for “being a pedestrian in the street where a sidewalk is provided,” according to the National Lawyers Guild Detroit and Michigan Chapter.

Carlson is concerned that the citations were intended to put a “chilling effect” on pro-Palestinian demonstrations.

“Throughout the march, there was heavy police surveillance, yet no dispersal orders were issued,” Carlson said in March. “Police picked people off and gave blocking traffic citations when people were out of the street and trying to safely leave.”

Mounting pressure

U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, wrote a letter to Detroit’s Board of Police Commissioners (BOPC) in June, urging the board to advocate for dismissing the citations.

“I ask that you use your voices and power to stand up for the constitutional rights of our residents in light of these unprecedented prosecutions of legal observers in Detroit,” Tlaib wrote.

The following month, BOPC Policy Committee Chair Linda Bernard sent a letter to Detroit Police Chief James White and Detroit Corporation Counsel Conrad Mallett urging them to dismiss the citations. Bernard said in the letter that the committee reviewed body camera footage from the March 2 and April 12 events and concluded the legal observers were clearly identified and doing nothing more than monitoring the police.

“What we observed from the footage showed behaviors that are protected under the First Amendment. It is improper and frankly illegal to target LO’s (legal observers) in retaliation for their work,” the letter said.

Bernard said she met with members of Detroit’s Law Department to discuss the tickets. She said, at the time, city attorneys seemed hesitant to drop the citations — but the city has since reversed course.

“It is our intention to negotiate an agreement which results in the dismissal of the tickets,” Mallett told Outlier Media on Friday. “Conversations are ongoing, all positive, and will result in dismissal.”

John Royal, a board member with the National Lawyers Guild’s Detroit and Michigan Chapter, explained that in exchange for the dismissals, the city is asking those ticketed to agree there was probable cause for their citations, “which is basically the city Law Department taking a position to prevent them from being sued for false arrest or false ticketing.”

As of Monday, Royal said tickets for four legal observers had been dismissed and the fifth hearing, for Nakisher, is scheduled for Thursday.

What about future protests?

While some activists are relieved to see the tickets dismissed, Coalition for Police Transparency and Accountability member Victoria Camille said the action doesn’t go far enough.

“It never should have happened and is a sign of the failures in leadership to protect fundamental rights in our city,” Camille said. “Corporation Counsel should commit that this will not happen again, as it negatively impacts public trust and discourages people from exercising and supporting First Amendment activities.”

When Outlier Media asked the Detroit Police Department for its policy on legal observers, the department provided a communication to department personnel dated May 23, 2024 — more than a month after the spring demonstrations.

The two-paragraph directive noted that legal observers are sent to protests to monitor police activity and ensure First Amendment rights are upheld.

“Unless the legal observers are violating the law, this monitoring activity is legal and shall not be interfered with,” the memo read. “Even in situations where an officer may have cause to investigate, members should exercise discretion in interfering with these individual’s efforts to monitor the event.”

Meanwhile, the Detroit Board of Police Commissioners Policy Committee is drafting its own policy it hopes the department will adopt.

Committee Chair Linda Bernard said she has repeatedly asked the police department to send the current policy but has not received it. She said the committee hopes to finalize its version soon.

“Protecting the rights of people to demonstrate and to free speech is absolutely critical,” said Bernard. “It was the first thing that our Founding Fathers — and I think, mothers, as well — did hundreds of years ago. It was No. 1, that you have the right to speak and right to protest and right to demonstrate your views.”

Detroit dismissing tickets issued to protest observers · Outlier Media