An ex-employee of Detroit’s Board of Police Commissioners alleges in a new lawsuit that members of the oversight body “sabotaged” staff efforts to investigate citizen complaints.
Melanie White, a former interim board secretary and 20-year BOPC employee, filed a wrongful termination lawsuit this week in Wayne County’s 3rd Circuit Court seeking $10 million in damages. White alleges that former Board Chair Bryan Ferguson and a “clique” of male employees discriminated against women coworkers and undermined a process developed at the direction of Mayor Mike Duggan to clear the complaint backlog. The lawsuit claims Duggan “took no action” after White informed him about the issues.
“When the Board of Police Commissioners was created, we thought it was a victory to have civilian oversight of rogue officers,” said White’s Attorney Carl Edwards, a lifelong Detroiter. “What we see is a board that is riddled with problems. That was never the intent of the movement by citizens of this city.”
BridgeDetroit requested comment from the mayor and Detroit’s top lawyer on Thursday. Corporation Counsel Conrad Mallett Jr. declined to comment though a city spokesperson.
White started as an investigator in 2004, rose through the ranks to executive manager and was appointed interim secretary in 2019. She was fired in January by police commissioners along with investigator Lawrence Akbar. He and White were previously put on administrative leave after an Office of the Inspector General investigation found White improperly closed hundreds of citizen complaints.
The lawsuit claims White’s performance was praised by BOPC leaders until Ferguson became chair in 2022. Ferguson “consistently and unfairly criticized” White’s job performance, according to the lawsuit, which also accused him of launching a “campaign of vitriol, verbal bullying, harassment, character assassination, unequal treatment” and civil rights violations.
Ferguson could not be immediately reached Thursday.
The alleged harassment occurred while the board was working to manage unresolved citizen complaints against police officers that had “skyrocketed” during the COVID-19 pandemic. Public pressure became so intense that Duggan convened a meeting with BOPC leaders in January 2022 to tackle the problem, according to the lawsuit.
An Office of Inspector General probe found White abused her position by ordering the closure of complaints that did not allege police misconduct. White’s lawsuit alleges that she was acting under the direction of the mayor.
“The mayor signed off on the ultimate program that was created,” Edwards said.
Duggan allegedly approved overtime for BOPC staff and authorized a plan to eliminate the complaint backlog. White claims she was working 60 to 80 hours per week to close cases and received permission from Ferguson to use his electronic signature on documents.
White alleges that Ferguson was using work stoppages to make White look bad and justify her termination. White met with the mayor in October 2022 to inform him about the “sabotage” but was allegedly ignored.
There are 1,753 complaint cases as of April 11. Complaints were being filed faster than they were resolved for the first three months of the year. Seven vacant investigator positions are contributing to the issue – there are 15 currently on staff, while 23 are needed.
White took a mental health leave of absence from Jan. 19 to March 20, 2023 “due to severe bullying, harassment” and other alleged mistreatment from Ferguson. She was forced to work in a storage room upon her return, according to the lawsuit, but was suspended by the board and later fired.
The lawsuit claims Ferguson harassed other women employees and created a culture of discrimination based on age and sex. White alleged that women were underpaid compared to male employees. Four women filed complaints with Human Resources regarding discrimination by Ferguson, according to the lawsuit.
“We’ve found people have superegos and don’t give a damn about the mission of the Board of Police Commissioners – that’s the real tragedy,” Edwards said.
Ferguson resigned after being caught with a sex worker in July 2023.