Public safety director recommends independent review of traffic-stop data after quarterly report

Public safety Director Bertiekama presented the department’s third-quarter report and recommended the commission explore an independent, holistic assessment of the department’s traffic-stop and crash-demographic data.

Bertiekama said violent-crime categories remain "extremely low" and highlighted that the department has collected traffic-stop demographic data since Jan. 1, 2022 — a dataset that now includes 3,206 stops and 1,028 traffic crashes. "I'm recommending exploring an independent holistic assessment of the public safety department," he said, naming the Center for Safety Assessments and Inclusion and noting its managing partner Kevin Drummond is willing to present to the commission.

Commissioners asked how small the dataset is, what comparison benchmarks are appropriate and why crash data is being used as a travel-population benchmark. Bertiekama and staff explained crash demographics are a cost‑effective proxy for the travel population and acknowledged that East Grand Rapids is a low‑speed, small community that yields fewer crash data points than larger jurisdictions. One commissioner pressed the disparity in the stop data directly: "Why do we see 30% of our traffic stops as Black motorists, and why is that number even double what we would estimate our road user population to be based on traffic crash data?" (paraphrased from a commissioner’s question.)

Commissioners expressed support for bringing Drummond or a similar expert in to outline options and price tiers for an assessment; staff said there was no formal action required that evening and the commission reached consensus to schedule a consultant presentation in the near future.

Next steps: staff will coordinate to bring the consultant to a future meeting for a presentation and cost estimates; commissioners indicated they want additional detail on methods, what an assessment would examine and likely costs before any formal contract action.