Council holds discussion on Board of Police Commissioners investigator pay; Member Calloway requests backlog data

The Detroit City Council Committee of the Whole heard detailed explanations Feb. 5, 2025, about a request to amend the official compensation schedule for civilian investigators who work with the Board of Police Commissioners’ investigative office.

Brenda Van Toole, classification and compensation specialist in the Human Resources Department, Drew Fries, executive fiscal manager for the Board of Police Commissioners (BOPC), and Jerome Warfield, chief investigator for the Office of the Chief Investigator, described the proposed changes as alignment with a recently negotiated pay band for union investigators. “Earlier in the fiscal year, the union and the city's labor relations negotiated and eventually agreed upon the new salary band for those investigators,” Fries said. He added the same compensation study that guided the union increase recommends raising pay bands for senior and supervising investigators as well.

Warfield explained the roles: “The senior investigator is a promotion up from the investigator...they help review the investigations. They help assist junior investigators with their investigations and to make sure that our documents are legally ready,” he said.

Officials told the committee the positions proposed for salary‑band adjustment are currently filled and that “there is favorability in the current fiscal year budget to execute this pay change,” Fries said.

Council member Angela Whitfield Calloway, who moved to bring the item back for further review, said she wanted concrete data about the office’s complaint backlog before approving any salary adjustments. “We want data. We want to see numbers…Have we improved? Are the complaints going up? How quick are we addressing the complaints and resolving the complaints and closing out the case?” Calloway asked.

Action taken: Member Calloway moved to bring line item 6.6 back for a date to be determined pending answers to her questions; the motion carried with no objection. Committee staff and BOPC officials said they could provide the requested backlog data the same day to Member Calloway and to other council members.

Why it matters: The item links pay‑band changes to earlier union negotiations and a citywide compensation study, and Calloway’s request ties the salary question to operational performance—specifically the number and age of unresolved citizen complaints handled by the investigative office.

Ending: The council did not adopt the compensation changes at this meeting; members asked staff and BOPC leadership to deliver backlog statistics and other supporting data and to return the item to the agenda after members have had time to review the materials.