Friday, November 15, 2013

11152013 - Officer Dale Malesh - Sentenced - CSC - Warren PD

Also see:

Officer Dale Malesh - CSC - Warren PD [retired]
http://michiganoidv.blogspot.com/2013/04/officer-dale-malesh-warren-pd-retired.html

Officer Dale Malesh preliminary hearing [May 2013]
http://michiganoidv.blogspot.com/2013/05/officer-dale-malesh-preliminary-exam.html

 
In October 2013, Officer Dale Malesh pled no-contest to 14 counts of CSC. On November 15, 2013, Malesh was sentenced to 4 years and 9 months to 15 years in prison.









Ex-Warren police officer pleads no contest to having sex with student
4:25 PM, October 8, 2013
Detroit Free Press
http://www.freep.com/article/20131008/NEWS04/310080116/

A retired Warren police officer accused of having a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old student who attended the school where he was a resource officer pleaded no contest today in Macomb County Circuit Court.

Dale Malesh, 62, pleaded no contest to 14 counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct, a 15-year felony, on charges out of Warren and Roseville. He is to be sentenced Nov. 15 before Judge Mary Chrzanowski.

His attorney, Steve Kaplan, said Malesh had a "stellar record as a police officer" in Warren and with Sturgis police and was a friend of the family of the victim. Kaplan said the girl was bullied in eighth grade and Malesh intervened and squashed the bullying.

Kaplan said no sex acts were coerced. He said Malesh pleaded no contest "in case (the girl) or her family decided to sue years from now."

The charges involve the one student, with the sexual affair going on between December and March.

The incidents occurred at Malesh’s home in Warren and at Dooley Park in Roseville, authorities said.

Malesh was charged in April with having sexual relations with the Warren girl, who was a junior at Warren Woods-Tower High School in Warren, where Malesh was a school resource officer. He was charged in June with the crimes in Roseville.

Malesh retired from Warren police in January 2011 after 19 years with the department. He was in law enforcement for about 30 years, Warren Police Commissioner Jere Green said after Malesh’s arrest.

After Malesh retired, the school district kept him as a contract employee for the rest of that school year and through the end of the 2012 school year, Green said.

Previously, Green said Warren police received a complaint March 21 about a sexual relationship between the girl and Malesh. The girl came to police with her mother.

Investigators interviewed students and staff at the school in addition to gathering other information, such as text messages and Facebook information, Green said. Police searched Malesh’s house. Green didn’t say how long the relationship was going on, but said the acts did not occur at school.








Monday, October 21, 2013

10212013 - Officer Michael Calabrese - LEIN misuse - Taylor PD

On May 30, 2014, Taylor City Police Officer Michael Calabrese was convicted of misusing the LEIN. 
In October 2013, Officer Calabrese had been charged with 11 counts of LEIN misuse. One of those charges stemmed from Calabrese misusing the system to check on his former girlfriend. 














Former Taylor officer sentenced to one year probation, fines for misusing computer system
Published: Friday, June 20, 2014
David Komer
The News-Herald
http://www.thenewsherald.com/articles/2014/06/20/news/doc53a47d7d308f5341022150.txt

DETROIT — A former Taylor police officer was sentenced  Friday in Wayne County Circuit Court to one year probation and $1,600 in fines for three misdemeanor counts of misusing the statewide Law Enforcement Information Network computer system.

Michael Calabrese, 42, can have his probation reduced to six months by paying all of his fines on time. His probation will be done via monthly telephone calls, and during that time he is not allowed to move out of his current residence.

He also must find and maintain employment and engage in an alternative program as dictated by a field agent.
After his jury trial concluded May 30, the Taylor Police Department fired the 13-year officer on June 10. As part of his conviction, Calabrese had his access to LEIN taken away and his law enforcement career is over.

Calabrese, a military combat veteran, was convicted by a jury on three counts of misusing LEIN.  
Calabrese emphatically declared his innocence to Judge Daniel Hathaway.

“I am not guilty of every charge that was presented before this court,” he said. “I served the country and the community with honor, integrity and service, and the things that are put before you today are false. And, I am innocent.”

Hathaway said the jury “came to a different conclusion and that the court is “duty bound to follow the jury.” He said the jury believed there were some violations of the law.

Before Calabrese was sentenced, defense attorney Byron Pitts asked Hathaway to consider that, as a combat veteran and a police officer, the former officer had put his life on the line for more than 20 years and he wished for him to go on about his life. 

Police Chief Mary Sclabassi spoke at the hearing, despite the efforts of Pitts to prevent it. Pitts said that since Sclabassi was not a victim in the matter, she was not entitled to speak.

Michael Woodyard, assistant Wayne County prosecutor, said  the Taylor Police Department was “clearly a victim of these crimes” because Calabrese used his authority with the department to commit them.
Hathaway then allowed Sclabassi to speak on behalf of the  department.

Sclabassi started her statement by apologizing to the women involved in the incidents and to the public on behalf of the department. She said Taylor is committed to an “open, systematic examination of the facts” and that the Michigan State Police conducted its investigation with integrity.

“The evidence has spoken and the jury has spoken,” she said, adding that she takes misconduct and criminal behavior by an officer seriously. “For months, I have listened to the recriminations of (Calabrese) and his attorney about paranoid conspiracy theories and witch hunts. I stand here confidently and tell you that those defenses are utterly false. This has been about holding a police officer accountable to his oath and the law.

“I strongly believe that Mr. Calabrese should no longer serve as a law enforcement officer. However, I would ask you to show leniency in your sentencing. It is my understanding that Mr. Calabrese is gainfully employed elsewhere and does have a young son to raise.”

















Internal affairs investigation details actions of former Taylor officer
Published: Friday, June 20, 2014
By David Komer
The News-Herald
http://www.thenewsherald.com/articles/2014/06/20/news/doc53a4823923274250542364.txt


TAYLOR — An internal affairs investigation of a former police officer details multiple instances of him using a law enforcement computer network to harass women.

Michael Calabrese, 42, a 13-year veteran of the Taylor Police Department, was fired June 10 at the conclusion of the investigation.

He had been convicted May 30 by a Wayne County Circuit Court jury of three of 11 counts of misuse of the Law Enforcement Information Network. On Friday, he was sentenced to one year probation and $1,600 in fines. 

Officers of the law are prohibited from using the LEIN for personal gain. Calabrese has maintained that he is innocent. His attorney, Bryon Pitts, has said Calabrese never benefited financially.

The internal affairs report
The News-Herald Newspapers received a copy of the internal affairs report after filing a state Freedom of Information Act request. The report documents alleged examples of Calabrese using his computer for personal reasons.

Names of people in the report were redacted, as were  Calbrese’s answers to the investigation’s questioning.

Woman 1
No names were provided in the report, but, in the first instance, a friend of “Woman 1” approached Lt. Michael Lividini to tell him that Calabrese was stalking her. 

In an interview with police, Woman 1 told Lividini that when she first met Calabrese in September or October 2011, he  followed her home and said he had run her license plate through LEIN.

She told police that after arriving home, Calabrese pulled in front of her driveway in a marked squad car and asked her out.

“I know this is not right and I am not supposed to do this, but I thought you were beautiful and wanted to exchange numbers to take you out on a date,” Calabrese said, according to the report. He also told her he had run her plate to get her address.

She agreed to go out with him once, to a Detroit Tigers game in 2011. After that, she told police, Calabrese sent her multiple text messages asking her out. She refused and told him to stop sending her texts, the report said.

Woman 1 said she became concerned when she heard that Calabrese was doing the same thing to other women.

On Feb. 13, Lividini was told by a friend of the woman that Calabrese continued to pull her over and harass her.

In a LEIN audit by Elizabeth Canfield of the Michigan State Police, Calabrese ran four queries on “Woman 1” — at 11:18 p.m.,  11:19 p.m. and 11:20 p.m. Sept. 24, 2011; and at 12:05 a.m. Sept. 25.

The report said  Woman 1 told state police Detective Joseph White, who ran the criminal investigation, that she thought it was wrong for an officer to use LEIN “just to ask girls out on dates.”

Woman 2
Calabrese used LEIN to look up “Woman 2” seven times from Sept. 2, 2010, to April 23, 2012, according to the investigation.

Woman 2 told White she had a personal relationship with Calabrese and they met in 2008 when he responded to a call at her house (the reason was redacted).

Woman 2 told Lividini that Calabrese met her when he was mentoring her younger brother, leading to the two dating on and off for two years in 2009 and 2010.

Calabrese and Woman 2 began a relationship while he was going through a divorce until they broke up in summer 2011 because, she said, he was controlling and possessive.

After the breakup, she told investigators he still texted her to tell her how she had “ruined his life” and that he continued to drive past her house in his personal vehicle.

The last time Calabrese sent a text to Woman 2 was in April 2013, when he said he was going to “tell everyone everything” about how she was a “home wrecker” unless she returned his calls, the report said. 

She warned him that she would call police if he continued texting her.

She added that she believes he “lies and is unstable.”

When the two were dating, there was a marked age difference; she was 18 and he was in his late 30s.

The relationship was not known to Woman 2’s parents, who became friends with Calabrese and his wife and went to church together and had dinner at each other’s houses, her father said in the report.

One night, Woman 2’s father said Calabrese called him crying, confessing his affair with the man’s daughter and asked for forgiveness. He then told the father the relationship was over.

Calabrese continued to date “Woman 2” despite the father asking three or four times that he stop, explaining the age difference, marital status and point in the lives of the  two, “but it did not make a difference,” the report says.

During that time, Woman 2’s mother found Calabrese hiding in the family’s basement closet, and he told her that because her daughter was 18 “there was nothing they could do about their relationship.”

On March 17, a police officer (name redacted) said Calabrese ran Woman 2’s name on the LEIN “because he could not stop thinking about her.”

Woman 2 said she never asked Calabrese to run her personal information in the computer and said she never came into contact with him in a professional circumstance when he would have needed to access the LEIN about her.

Woman 3
White investigated claims that Calabrese had a photo of  “Woman 3,”  an employee at an area restaurant, on his mobile data terminal, or patrol car computer.

At 3:43 a.m. Jan. 6, Calabrese ran her LEIN  information.

Woman 3 knew Calabrese from the restaurant, as well as from when he worked the security detail at Truman High School basketball games.

On Jan. 6, Woman 3 and her fiance encountered Calabrese when a woman her parents were helping fell ill and was transported to the hospital.

She never had a relationship with him other than as friends on Facebook.

Woman 4
“Woman 4” works at a  bar and had her LEIN information run at 10:26 p.m. June 26.

She told investigators she asked him to do it, and that Calabrese had a crush on her and had asked her out on dates in the past.

The report said she went to Calabrese’s house once to hang out with him, usually just flirting and “probably gave him the wrong idea,” but liked having him come to the bar.

One night while leaving a bar she encountered Calabrese.

Woman 4 said she was too drunk to drive and Calabrese, who was on duty, offered to drive her car home for her. She agreed, while a second officer followed in a squad car.

She asked him to look up her record with LEIN because she was curious what was on her record.

Woman 5
“Woman 5” had her information run on LEIN at 3:40 a.m. July 24.

She said she knew Calabrese through a friend and said  Calabrese had hinted about asking her out.

She said Calabrese has never handled an incident involving her and that she never asked him to run her LEIN information.

Woman 5 never dated Calabrese, who would ask her what she thought of dating older men. She told him that she would “never date someone her father’s age.”

Woman 6
“Woman 6” had her name run by Calabrese on LEIN twice, at 4:41 a.m. and 4:42 a.m. May 29, 2011, and her vehicle, license and name were run at 10:01 p.m. July 14.

Woman 6 met Calabrese in 2011 when he came into the shop she worked to buy a gift for a nurse he had just met and wanted to ask on a date. He told Woman 6 that if it did not work out, he would be back to ask her out.

He returned an hour later saying that the nurse was married and she accepted his date offer “to get him to leave,” the report said.

While on a date on his boat at Belleville Lake, he told her she had been involved in a “fender bender” and said he had to know who he was taking out on a date.

Woman 6 told investigators she ended the relationship.

Woman 7
“Woman 7” is a former Taylor police intern whose LEIN  information was looked up by Calabrese at 7:21 p.m. Nov. 30, 2012.

Woman 7 asked Calabrese to look up her driving record after she had received a speeding ticket in Livonia one day earlier.

She is a Ferris State University law enforcement graduate who had become friends with Calabrese and had gone out with him socially in a platonic nature, the report said.

She learned there was nothing on her record at that time and told investigators that she is still friends with Calabrese and that he told her about the investigation and to be honest and answer any questions regarding it.

Woman 8
“Woman 8” works at a local restaurant and had her LEIN information looked up at 10:31 p.m. Sept. 1, 2011.

A dispatch log said Calabrese was dispatched to a suicide attempt at 10:22 p.m. Sept. 1, 2011, and arrived at the scene at 10:33 p.m. The scene was cleared by 10:58 p.m.

Woman 8 said she knew Calabrese from working at the restaurant and that he used to ask her out on dates despite knowing she was engaged.

She felt Calabrese was infatuated with her until a new woman  began working and caught his eye. “He moved on to her,” Woman 8 told investigators, adding that she never felt threatened by him.

She said she never asked for her information to be run by Calabrese on LEIN.
















Calabrese Internal Affairs Report
June 12, 2014
Taylor Police Department
































Taylor officer convicted of computer misuse to find out about future with department soon
Published: Saturday, June 07, 2014
By David Komer
The News-Herald

TAYLOR — An officer recently found to have misused the statewide law enforcement computer network will learn about  his future with the Police Department by next week.

On May 30, Michael Calabrese, 42, was convicted in Wayne County Circuit Court of three counts of  misusing the Law Enforcement Information Network.

He is to be sentenced June 20 by Judge Daniel Hathaway.

Police Chief Mary Sclabassi said the department’s internal affairs investigation waited until the trial’s conclusion in accordance with the officers’ union contract. A decision regarding Calabrese, who is on unpaid suspension, will be ready for next week.

The 13-year veteran was originally accused of 11 counts of LEIN misuse and pleaded not guilty.

At a preliminary examination of the evidence against him in 24th District Court in December, two witnesses testified that Calabrese looked up their driving records and license information for personal reasons unrelated to any cases.

LEIN is a computerized criminal information filing system of numerous state databases that includes criminal histories, Michigan Secretary of State records, driving records and information that would appear on a driver’s license.

Searches can be conducted using a license plate, license number or a name.




















Taylor police officer convicted of misusing LEIN system
Published: Sunday, June 01, 2014
By Dave Herndon
The News-Herald
http://www.thenewsherald.com/articles/2014/06/01/news/doc5388b59a4d583597671829.txt



DETROIT — A Taylor police officer was convicted in Wayne County Circuit Court on Friday afternoon of three counts of misuse of a statewide law enforcement computer network.

Michael Calabrese is to be sentenced June 20 by Judge Daniel Hathaway.

Calabrese was accused of 11 counts of misusing the Law Enforcement Information Network. He maintained his innocence throughout and a plea of not guilty was entered on his behalf.

The 13-year veteran of the department has been suspended without pay. It is unknown at this time what his future with the department will be.

At a preliminary examination of the evidence against him in 24th District Court in December, two witnesses testified that Calabrese looked up their driving records and license information for personal reasons unrelated to any cases.

LEIN is a computerized criminal information filing system of numerous state databases that includes criminal histories, Michigan Secretary of State records, driving records and information that would appear on a driver’s license. Searches can be conducted using a license plate, license number or a name. 











Taylor officer charged with computer misuse is headed to trial
Published: Wednesday, March 12, 2014
By David Komer
The News-Herald
http://www.thenewsherald.com/articles/2014/03/12/news/doc5320a3838cb29640263255.txt



DETROIT — A Taylor police officer charged with misuse of a statewide law enforcement computer network is headed to trial.

Michael Calabrese, 42, has a jury trial scheduled to begin April 7 before Judge Daniel Hathaway in Wayne County Circuit Court.

Calabrese, accused of 11 counts of misusing the Law Enforcement Information Network, has maintained his innocence throughout and had a not guilty plea entered.

Calabrese’s final conference was held Feb. 28, where a plea bargain could have been chosen. 
The 13-year veteran of the department has been suspended without pay.

At a preliminary examination of the evidence against him, held in 24th District Court in December, two witnesses came forward to testify that Calabrese looked up their driving records and license information for personal reasons unrelated to any cases.

Calabrese is accused of:
•Five counts of using LEIN information for unauthorized disclosure.
•Two counts of motor vehicle code false certification.
•Two counts of using a computer to commit a crime.
•Two counts of common law offenses, or abuse of office.

LEIN is a computerized criminal information filing system of numerous state databases that include criminal histories, Michigan Secretary of State records, driving records and information that would appear on a driver’s license. Searches can be conducted using a license plate, license number or a name.










Taylor officer charged with computer crime due back in court
Published: Tuesday, February 25, 2014
By David Komer
The News-Herald


DETROIT — A Taylor police officer is expected back in Wayne County Circuit Court on Friday to face charges that he misused a statewide computer network.

Michael Calabrese, 42, is accused of 11 counts of misusing the Law Enforcement Information Network for personal use.

The 13-year veteran of the department has been suspended without pay.

He has entered a plea of not guilty and will be in court at 9 a.m. for a final conference before Judge Daniel Hathaway. 
If a plea bargain is not chosen by Calabrese at the conference, a jury trial date has been set for 9 a.m. April 7.

His last hearing had been scheduled for Jan. 3 but the case has had a change of judges. It originally was heard by Judge Deborah Thomas.

Calabrese is accused of:
•Five counts of using LEIN information for unauthorized disclosure.
•Two counts of motor vehicle code false certification.
•Two counts of using a computer to commit a crime. 
•Two counts of common law offenses, or abuse of office.

LEIN is a computerized criminal information filing system of numerous state databases that include criminal histories, Michigan Secretary of State records, driving records and information that would appear on a driver’s license. Searches can be conducted using a license plate, license number or a name.










DETROIT: Taylor officer arraigned for misuse of computer network
Published: Monday, December 16, 2013
By David Komer
The News Herald



DETROIT — Taylor police officer Michael Calabrese was arraigned in Wayne County Circuit Court Monday morning.

Calabrese, 42, is accused of 11 counts of misusing the Law Enforcement Information Network for personal use.

His lawyer entered a not guilty plea before Judge Deborah Thomas, while Calabrese stood mute.

The next hearing for Calabrese is scheduled for 9 a.m. Jan. 3. 

Calabrese is accused of:

• Five counts of using LEIN information for unauthorized disclosure.

• Two counts of motor vehicle code false certification.

• Two counts of using a computer to commit a crime.

• Two counts of common law offenses, or abuse of office.

A 13-year veteran of the department, Calabrese is currently on a unpaid suspension. 
LEIN is a computerized criminal information filing system of numerous state databases that include criminal histories, Michigan Secretary of State records, driving records and information that would appear on a driver’s license. Searches can be conducted using a license plate, license number or a name.

According to the state police website, criminal penalties for the misuse of LEIN in its Policy Council Act, MCL 28.214, specifically say:

“For a first offense, guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for not more than 90 days or a fine of not more than $500, or both. For a second or subsequent offense, guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment for not more than four years or a fine of not more than $2,000, or both.”












ALLEN PARK: Taylor officer charged with misusing computer system bound over for trial
Published: Monday, December 02, 2013
By David Komer
The News Herald










ALLEN PARK — A Taylor police officer was bound over for trial at Wayne County Circuit Court to face 11 charges related to his alleged misuse of a department computer.

A former girlfriend of officer Michael Calabrese, who’s been with the department for 13 years, testified Monday in 24th District Court that he told her he used the police computer to access the Law Enforcement Information Network to review her background because “he wanted to know who he was taking on a date.”

Calabrese, who was ordered by Judge Richard Page to stand trial for all 11 charges, will head downtown for trial at 9 a.m. Dec. 16. He is accused of:

• Five counts of using LEIN information for unauthorized disclosure; 
• Two counts of motor vehicle code false certification;

• Two counts of using a computer to commit a crime; and

• Two counts of common law offenses, or abuse of office.

Four witnesses testified Monday including ex-girlfriend Lacey Mckiney, who said she dated Calabrese for three months in 2011.

“He mentioned that I’d had a fender-bender in Romulus,” Mckiney said. “He said he checked up on me and ran me. I asked him why and he said he ‘wanted to know who he was taking on a date.’”

Calabrese’s case was heard in Allen Park, and not the city in which he works, to ensure objectivity. 

LEIN is a computerized criminal information filing system that accesses numerous state databases including criminal history, secretary of state records, driving record and information that would appear on a driver’s license. Searches can be conducted using a license plate, license number or a name.

Mckiney said she had never had a ticket or been in an accident previous to the Romulus traffic crash.

She said that she met Calabrese after he sent flowers to a fellow employee at her place of work. Mckiney said Calabrese told her he would be back if it didn’t work out with the co-worker, and later kept asking her out.

Defense attorney Bryon Pitts asked Mckiney if she asked Calabrese to look up information about her traffic accident.

“No,” she said. “I’m 100 percent sure.”

Pitts argued that since Mckiney said she could not remember every single conversation she had with Calabrese from more than a year and a half ago, her recollection could be wrong.

In another line of questioning by Pitts, McKiney also said she was never told by investigators to not speak to anyone other than the Michigan State Police about the case.

Pitts’ questioning stem from when a previous witness, former police department intern Kirby Brackel, said she was told by Michigan State Police investigators that if anyone tried to speak to her about the case, she should report it.

Pitts’ obstruction argument was that the Michigan State Police investigator was not allowed to give that instruction.

“Ms. Brackel and any other witness can speak to any person they choose,” Pitts said. “Just as (Michigan State Police) can speak to any witness I might call without having to go through me. This is obstruction and I will be talking to (Wayne County Prosecutor) Kym Worthy’s office.” 

“This is outrageous,” said Robert Miller, assistant Wayne County prosecutor.

Page interrupted the budding argument, but Miller did say that there was a no-contact rule only regarding Calabrese, which was ongoing at the time of his arraignment.

“I am not going to admonish the (Michigan State Police) officer here, I don’t know exactly what took place,” Page said.

During testimony, Brackel, who said the process of being questioned at her house by investigators was “intimidating,” said she came to know Calabrese when she interned with the department while a student at Ferris State University.

Brackel said she was pulled over for speeding in Livonia in November 2012. She said she called Calabrese to check her driving record. After a short period of time, she said Calabrese called to tell her “that I had nothing on my driving record.”

Brackel testified that she paid the ticket.

Also testifying was Taylor Police Lt. Michael Lividini, who handles internal affairs within the department, and Elizabeth Canfield, a LEIN policy analyst who investigates misuse of the computer network.

“Could you use LEIN to look up the driving record of a personal friend?” Miller asked.

“Not for personal use,” Canfield said.

Canfield said she was asked to conduct searches on the LEIN archive on an operator name and certain specific individual names. 
Records were presented by Canfield showing findings of searches on Brackel and Mckiney in the database by an operator logged in as Calabrese.

Pitts said that it was possible another officer performed the searches under Calabrese’s account.

“You don’t know who made the reports, just that someone was using the account,” Pitts said to Canfield, who agreed.

He also questioned the depth of the searches, saying the operator of the search may not have intended to get anything more than the driving records for the two women — although, in both instances, the searches were comprehensive.

Miller countered by asking Canfield that if someone was investigating just a driver’s record, they could limit the query, to which Canfield said yes.

Pitts then asked her if she knew whether the Taylor LEIN system allowed the user the ability to limit such a search.

“No,” she said, after which Pitts said he had nothing further.

According to the Michigan State Police website, criminal penalties for the misuse of LEIN in its Policy Council Act, MCL 28.214, specifically states:

“For a first offense, guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for not more than 90 days or a fine of not more than $500, or both. For a second or subsequent offense, guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment for not more than 4 years or a fine of not more than $2,000, or both.”












ALLEN PARK: Hearing rescheduled again for officer accused of misusing computer system
Published: Sunday, November 10, 2013
By David Komer
The News Herald

ALLEN PARK — A preliminary examination has been postponed again for an officer charged with 11 counts of misusing the Police Department’s Law Enforcement Information Network.

Officer Michael Calabrese had been scheduled to appear before 24th District Judge Richard Page on Wednesday, but his exam has been adjourned until Dec. 2.

A court clerk said Calabrese notified the court of a change of attorney Monday afternoon. Court was not in session Tuesday due to Election Day, so the case was to have been heard Wednesday.

The Dec. 2 date is tentative and was requested by Calabrese, the clerk said. 
The 13-year department veteran is accused of:

•Five counts of using LEIN information for unauthorized disclosure.

•Two counts of motor vehicle code false certification.

•Two counts of using a computer to commit a crime.

•Two counts of common law offenses.

The first hearing had been scheduled for Oct. 21 but was delayed because the assistant Wayne County prosecutor handling the case requested more time because of new evidence and that a witness could not attend the hearing. 
Taylor Police Chief Mary Sclabassi said her department received a complaint about Calabrese in January, and she turned it over to Michigan State Police to investigate.

She referred any further questions about the case to state police.

Calabrese’s case was heard in Allen Park, and not the city in which he works.

LEIN is a computerized criminal information filing system for the state that organizes and makes information available to all criminal justice agencies, the Michigan State Police website says.

According to the website, criminal penalties for the misuse of LEIN in its Policy Council Act, MCL 28.214, specifically says:

“For a first offense, guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for not more than 90 days or a fine of not more than $500, or both. For a second or subsequent offense, guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment for not more than four years or a fine of not more than $2,000, or both.”













Cop charged with multiple counts of information misuse
The Times-Herald Newspapers
October 28, 2013
By JAMES MITCHELL
Sunday Times Newspapers
TAYLOR — A police officer may be facing time in jail after being charged with multiple counts of misusing law enforcement information systems and falsifying vehicle documents.

According to 24th District Court and Wayne County Circuit Court records, Michael Calabrese, 42, was charged with 11 non-capital felonies including false certification of motor vehicle documents, using a computer to commit a crime, and several counts of unauthorized disclosure of data from the Law Enforcement Information Network.

Court records indicate that a warrant had been requested in September at Taylor’s 23rd District Court; a preliminary exam on Monday was held before 24th District Court Judge Richard Page, reportedly to provide a neutral setting.

Police Chief Mary Sclabassi said Calabrese — a 12-year department veteran — has been suspended pending the outcome of the criminal case. His pay was suspended following the arraignment of charges. 

The investigation was reportedly handled by the Michigan State Police; Sclabassi received a complaint regarding Calabrese and referred the matter to state investigators.

If convicted Calabrese could face up to 90 days in jail for a first misdemeanor offense, or up to four years in prison for felony convictions.

Last week’s preliminary exam was rescheduled for Nov. 6.












ALLEN PARK: Hearing for Taylor officer charged with computer system misuse adjourned to November
Published: Monday, October 21, 2013
By David Komer
The News Herald

ALLEN PARK — A preliminary exam for a Taylor police officer charged with 11 counts of allegedly misusing the department’s Law Enforcement Information Network was postponed until 9 a.m. Nov. 6.

Officer Michael Calabrese appeared before 24th District Court Judge Richard Page Monday morning.

The 13-year department veteran is accused of:

• Five counts of using LEIN information for unauthorized disclosure;
Two counts of motor vehicle code false certification;

• Two counts of using a computer to commit a crime; and

• Two counts of common law offenses.

Michael Woodyard, assistant Wayne County prosecutor, requested the case be adjourned due to a witness who could not attend Monday’s hearing and because of new evidence.

“There was some discovery materials our office came into possession of late Friday,” Woodyard said. “In fact, I have not given it to (the defense, which) I will do today.”

Woodyard and Calabrese’s defense lawyers had an off-the-record discussion with Page in his chambers prior to the hearing, where the prosecution asked whether Page preferred to hear the case in its entirety or piecemeal. 

“I know my preference is to do it in its entirety and it sounds like (the defense’s) is also,” Woodyard said.

Page said that if both sides wanted to “do it all” at one time, that it would be fine.

Taylor Police Chief Mary Sclabassi said that in January her department received a complaint about Calabrese, which she turned over to the Michigan State Police to investigate. She referred any further questions about the case, to state police.

Calabrese’s case was heard in Allen Park, and not the city in which he works, to ensure objectivity.

LEIN is a computerized criminal information filing system for the state, which organizes and makes information available to all criminal justice agencies, the Michigan State Police website said.

According to the website, criminal penalties for the misuse of LEIN in its Policy Council Act, MCL 28.214, specifically states:

“For a first offense, guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for not more than 90 days or a fine of not more than $500, or both. For a second or subsequent offense, guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment for not more than 4 years or a fine of not more than $2,000, or both.”

Thursday, September 19, 2013

09192013 - Officer Ronald Dupuis - Falsely arrested and imprisoned two women - Highland Park PD

Post being updated

September 19, 2013: Highland Park Officer Ronald Dupuis arrested uniformed / on duty Detroit Parking Enforcement Officer Rhianna Turner and her girlfriend Kera Hill, in front of Detroit PD. Dupuis transported them back to Highland PD and had the women jailed for four days - without charges. Turner lost her job due to the unlawful arrest and imprisonment.



*Scroll down to bottom of page for Dupuis' law enforcement history*











Michigan cop with troubling history accused of imprisoning two women for days with no charges
byWalter Einenkel
FRI APR 24, 2015 AT 11:50 AM PDT
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/04/24/1380049/-Michigan-cop-with-troubling-history-accused-of-imprisoning-two-women-for-days-with-no-charges#

Highland Park Officer Ronald Dupuis is in trouble—again. This time it is a lawsuit from 2 women claiming he detained them for 4 days without charging them. The 2 women, Rhianna Turner and Kera Hill are domestic partners, they are represented by attorney Robert Morris.

Morris says in September of 2013 – Turner was working as a uniformed Detroit Parking Enforcement Officer.  While she was stopped in front of the old Detroit police headquarters at 1300 Beaubien, Hill showed up.  They were playfully wrestling over a set of keys when a nearby by Sheriff’s deputy feared that Hill was assaulting Turner.

Officer Dupuis came in to see what was the problem. Well, that sounds reasonable.

Despite the couple’s explanations that were was no assault – Morris says Dupuis arrested them.
“The fact that he actually took them to Highland Park, which has no jurisdiction with anything that could have occurred in Detroit, and he was able to convince his supervisors, who were already skeptical and didn’t understand why my clients were locked up – he was actually able to override their authority and keep my clients for four days,” Morris says.

They were never charged with a crime – but Morris says getting locked up cost Turner her job with the city.

That's not good. But, it's a he said she said situation here, right? Here's a video that was posted by Emma Craig on her Facebook page back in January. It shows Officer Dupuis beating a handcuffed suspect, facedown in the snow.

The suspect in that video may very well be a pretty crap human being but it isn't up to police officers to deal out punishment. Here is a report from when Officer Dupuis accidentally shot himself.

And here is Ronald Dupuis's history as a law enforcement officer, care of Detroit Free Press:

■ In 2012, a woman sued Dupuis, alleging he refused to let her use the restroom while she was in a jail cell — thus forcing her to urinate in her cell — and later "began to choke her" and began to call her vulgar names. The lawsuit was dismissed in 2013 because the plaintiff did not provide sufficient documents to the defense.

■ In 2004, while working as a Hamtramck police officer, Dupuis was sued by a man who alleged Dupuis wrongfully arrested him and had him jailed for no reason. The man was released without being charged. His lawsuit was settled for an undisclosed amount.

■ In 2006, Dupuis sued the city of Hamtramck after a female officer accused him of assaulting her with a Taser. He was fired as a result of the accusation, but was later acquitted on the assault charge. He ended up suing the city over his firing and its handling of the assault accusation. The case was settled.

■ In 2008, Dupuis sued the city of Hamtramck a second time over the Taser complaint, alleging the city had a duty to defend him in that lawsuit. That case was dismissed.

■ In 2012, Dupuis filed an employment discrimination lawsuit against the city of Highland Park, alleging he was treated unfairly compared to his African American counterparts and that he was unfairly demoted in the police department. The lawsuit was dismissed in 2013.

Oh yeah, he resigned from the Southgate Police department back in the 2000s. It was in that same department he was reprimanded, in 1998, for allegedly assaulting a mentally disabled man...and stalking a woman, repeatedly pulling her over.
Innocent until proven guilty. But the police employment system that keeps him employed seems very guilty.

















VIDEO: What Does It Take To Fire A Bad Cop? Just Ask Ronald Dupuis
By MintPress News Desk
Minneapolis, MN
April 17, 2015
http://www.mintpressnews.com/what-does-take-to-fire-a-bad-cop-just-ask-ronald-dupuis/204481/

Ronald Dupuis, a police officer from Highland Park, Michigan, has a record of questionable -- and even outright bad -- behavior dating back to the 1980s. These decades of missteps don’t seem to be hampering his career, though.

With almost daily reports of brutality and fatal shootings of unarmed black people by police, activists in America are asking why officers so rarely face lasting consequences for their actions.

With almost daily reports of brutality and fatal shootings of unarmed black people by police, activists in America are asking why officers so rarely face lasting consequences for their actions.

When Darren Wilson left his post with the Ferguson Police Department, crowdfunding efforts raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the man who killed unarmed teenager Michael Brown. Investigations into Wilson’s past revealed that he’d first been employed by a Missouri police force that was disbanded for corruption.

A similar pattern emerged in the recent slaying of Walter Scott. Writing for Counter Current News, Jackson Mariana reported that Scott’s killer, North Charleston Police Officer Michael Thomas Slager, had a history of violent incidents:

“Back in 2013, Mario Givens, an African American North Charleston man, had been ‘roughed up’ when Slager came to his door, demanding to be let in ‘as part of an investigation.’”

North Charleston Police have faced 46 federal lawsuits since 2000.

But few cops can match the checkered past of Sgt. Ronald Dupuis, the officer from Highland Park, Michigan, who remains employed despite a string of incidents that have followed him through multiple departments. Highland Park is the seventh police force to employ Dupuis.

A new lawsuit alleges that Dupuis held two women in jail without charges for four days. Shockingly, the incident didn’t even begin in Highland Park, where Dupuis is employed as a cop and where he allegedly imprisoned the two women, “Rhianna Turner and her domestic partner Kera Hill.” Instead, Dupuis is accused of intervening in an incident in Detroit.

In September 2013, a sheriff’s deputy witnessed the pair “playfully wrestling over a set of keys,” and intervened because he feared an assault had occurred. Although both women denied a crime had occurred, Dupuis arrived on the scene, arrested the two women, and took them to jail in nearby Highland Park. Though no charges were filed, Turner lost her job as a Detroit Parking Enforcement Officer.

Just this past January, Dupuis made headlines when he was videotaped beating a man suspected of carjacking.

“The video of the arrest, which was recorded by Detroit resident Emma Craig on Monday on the city’s northwest side and posted on Facebook, shows Dupuis striking the suspect several times while apparently trying to handcuff him and administering a final blow after Jackson’s hands were secured behind his back,” reported George Hunter in The Detroit News.

In 2012, Dupuis was hospitalized for shooting himself in the leg with his own gun, which discharged accidentally outside a cell block. Another incident involved him choking a woman he had in custody.

He was previously fired from the Hamtramck, Michigan, Police Department for using a taser on his own partner. Although a jury declined to convict him for it, courts refused to force the city to reinstate Dupuis, which is how he ended up employed by Highland Park.

Reneé Harrington, creator of the Michigan Officer Involved Domestic Violence Project, compiled a lengthy timeline of Dupuis-related incidents dating back to 1997. According to the timeline, the Southgate, Michigan, Police Department fired him in 1999 for stalking a woman and repeatedly pulling her over.

Because there is a lack of national data on police violence in general, it is difficult to determine how often police face consequences for their crimes. But in 2013, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey estimated that 90 percent of officers fired from the Philadelphia Police Department force were later rehired through arbitration with police unions — even those accused of crimes including shoplifting and sexual assault.

















Two women allege Highland Park Sergeant locked them up for days for no reason
Ross Jones, Heather Catallo
6:28 PM, Apr 16, 2015
6:50 PM, Apr 16, 2015
WXYZ News - Detroit
http://www.wxyz.com/news/local-news/investigations/two-women-allege-highland-park-sgt-locked-them-up-for-4-days-with-no-reason







HIGHLAND PARK (WXYZ) - Two women are accusing a Highland Park Police Sergeant of detaining them for four days for no reason, according to a lawsuit.

"He’s ruined my life, ever since that day," Rhianna Turner said.

The day in question was September 19, 2013. Turner was a parking enforcement officer for the City of Detroit.  Around lunchtime, she says, she and her domestic partner Kera Hill met up outside police headquarters.

"We were going to meet just right before her doctor’s appointment in front of (police headquarters), and we did.  We had a little horseplay going on, like we always do, and just out of the blue a deputy comes up from behind and throws Kera into the car."

The deputy was from the Wayne County Sheriff’s Department and feared that Hill was assaulting Turner.  A few minutes later, he was joined by Highland Park Sgt. Ronald Dupuis, who began to handcuff Kera Hill.

"I’m saying, 'Why are you guys doing this? What’s going on?' And he hollered back, 'You two were fighting.  You two were fighting,' " Turner recalled. "And again I’m confused. We wasn’t fighting.  We wasn’t fighting."

Eventually, both women were handcuffed and taken to jail in Highland Park. Turner and her partner were placed in separate cells.

"We were there for four days. No one could tell us why, on what charges, when were we going to get out of here,  when were we going to talk to somebody. Nothing," Turner said.

"The police officer who was there during the shift change said, 'Something’s not right, I don’t know why you guys are here, we don’t have any charges to tell you why you’re here.'"

Under Michigan law, no one can be held jailed for more than three days without being arraigned on charges. Turner and Hill say they were held for four days and never were charged. Turner says she lost her job in the city's parking enforcement unit because of her arrest.

Attorney Robert Morris represents Turner and her partner.

"Everybody acknowledges that this shouldn’t happen, but nobody stopped it," Morris said.

Dupuis is no stranger to controversy. As 7 Investigator Heather Catallo has reported, he is currently under investigation for how he arrested a car jacking suspect earlier this year.

He has made the news for shooting himself in the leg and for using a taser on his police partner in Hamtramck. He was ultimately found not guilty by a jury. Dupuis is no stranger to lawsuits either. He has been sued and filed his own share of cases in federal court.

"He has more of a bully personality, said Morris. "He seems to take whatever path is comfortable to him and his temper at that moment."

Attempts to reach Dupuis by phone today were unsuccessful.  Highland Park's city attorney said the city has not been served with the complaint and has no comment.

















Michigan police officer with history of abuse arrests two women, holds them in jail four days without charges
Tom Boggioni
Raw Story
Thu, 16 Apr 2015 11:37 UTCMap
http://www.sott.net/article/295336-Michigan-police-officer-with-history-of-abuse-arrests-two-women-holds-them-in-jail-four-days-without-charges



A Michigan police officer with a string of lawsuits and accusations filed against him over the years - including Tasering his partner and assaulting a disabled man — has now been accused of arresting two women and holding them in jail without ever filing any charges. 

Highland Park police officer Ronald Dupuis — already under investigation for beating a suspected car hijackerhas been accused by two women of arresting them and holding them in jail for four days without every charging them with a crime, according to WXYZ. 

According to Robert Morris, attorney for Rhianna Turner and her domestic partner Kera Hill, Dupuis arrested the two women when they were playfully wrestling over a set of keys in front of the old Detroit police headquarters in 2013. Despite the women's insistence that they were not assaulting each other, Dupuis took them into custody before driving them to the Highland Park station where they were held in a cell for four days before being released without charges ever being filed. 

"The fact that he actually took them to Highland Park, which has no jurisdiction with anything that could have occurred in Detroit, and he was able to convince his supervisors, who were already skeptical and didn't understand why my clients were locked up - he was actually able to override their authority and keep my clients for four days," Morris explained. 

According to the attorney, Turner lost her job with the city as a Detroit Parking Enforcement Officer because of her jail stay. 

Dupuis, already under investigation for the beating of the alleged car hijacker earlier this year, has been in the spotlight for the past decade, having worked for seven different police departments, leaving either under a cloud or in a flurry of lawsuits. 

According to the Detroit Free Press, since 2004 Dupuis has been accused of unlawfully locking up suspects, choking a woman in her jail cell, stalking a woman, and assault, — including using a Taser on his partner. 

In 2012, a woman sued Dupuis, alleging he refused to let her use the restroom while she was in a jail cell — thus forcing her to urinate in her cell — and later "began to choke her" and began to call her vulgar names. The lawsuit was dismissed in 2013 because the plaintiff did not provide sufficient documents to the defense. 

In 2004, while working as a Hamtramck police officer, Dupuis was sued by a man who alleged Dupuis wrongfully arrested him and had him jailed for no reason. The man was released without being charged. His lawsuit was settled for an undisclosed amount. 

In 2006, Dupuis sued the city of Hamtramck after a female officer accused him of assaulting her with a Taser. He was fired as a result of the accusation, but was later acquitted on the assault charge. He ended up suing the city over his firing and its handling of the assault accusation. The case was settled. 

In 2008, Dupuis sued the city of Hamtramck a second time over the Taser complaint, alleging the city had a duty to defend him in that lawsuit. That case was dismissed. 

In 2012, Dupuis filed an employment discrimination lawsuit against the city of Highland Park, alleging he was treated unfairly compared to his African American counterparts and that he was unfairly demoted in the police department. The lawsuit was dismissed in 2013. 

Dupuis has also sued several of the various police departments that have employed him, claiming discrimination, failure to defend him against accusations from the public, and for terminating him. 

In 2012 , Dupuis accidentally shot himself in the leg while standing outside a jail cell at the Highland Park station. 

















Controversial Highland Park cop sued, accused of locking up two women for four days without charges
Heather Catallo
10:59 PM, Apr 15, 2015
11:30 PM, Apr 15, 2015
WXYZ News - Detroit
http://www.wxyz.com/news/local-news/investigations/controversial-highland-park-cop-sued-accused-of-locking-up-two-women-for-four-days-without-charges


HIGHLAND PARK, Mich. (WXYZ) - He’s made headlines for using a taser on his partner – and he’s been caught on camera during an aggressive arrest. Now Highland Park police officer Ronald Dupuis is making headlines once again.

A new lawsuit has been filed against him – this time 2 women are accusing him of locking them up for 4 days without ever charging them with a crime.

Whether it’s an arrest caught on camera, shooting himself in the leg, or having to be rushed to the hospital after a police raid – Sgt. Ronald Dupuis just can’t stay out of the spotlight.

Now he’s accused of locking up Rhianna Turner and her domestic partner Kera Hill – without any evidence of a crime – for four days.

“My clients are completely terrified by any law enforcement,” says their attorney, Robert Morris.

Morris filed the lawsuit against Dupuis and the City of Highland Park. He says his clients’ constitutional rights were violated.

“Under the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments, you don’t arrest people without some type of probable cause,” Morris says. “He imprisoned them for 4 days with also no probable cause.”

Morris says in September of 2013 – Turner was working as a uniformed Detroit Parking Enforcement Officer.  While she was stopped in front of the old Detroit police headquarters at 1300 Beaubien, Hill showed up.  They were playfully wrestling over a set of keys when a nearby by Sheriff’s deputy feared that Hill was assaulting Turner.

That’s when Sgt. Dupuis pulled over to intervene.

Despite the couple’s explanations that were was no assault – Morris says Dupuis arrested them.

“The fact that he actually took them to Highland Park, which has no jurisdiction with anything that could have occurred in Detroit, and he was able to convince his supervisors, who were already skeptical and didn’t understand why my clients were locked up – he was actually able to override their authority and keep my clients for four days,” Morris says.

They were never charged with a crime – but Morris says getting locked up cost Turner her job with the city.

Dupuis is currently under investigation for how he arrested a carjacking suspect earlier this year.  And he’s no stranger to lawsuits. He’s been sued – and filed his share of cases in federal court as well.

He’s worked at seven different police departments and came to our attention when he used a taser on his police partner in Hamtramck back in 2005.  A jury did not convict him in that case, but Morris says there’s a definite pattern here.

“He really has a history of sort of a bully attitude,” he says. “Both with his fellow workers and the citizens he comes in contact with.”

I asked Morris why his clients waited a year and a half to sue. He says they were terrified of the police, and he was only recently able to convince them to come forward.

I did reach out to the Highland Park City Attorney. We are still waiting to hear back from them for comment on this lawsuit.

















Suburban Robocops like those involved in Jackson beating on the loose in Detroit for years
Posted on 01/15/2015
Diane Bukowski
Voice of Detroit
http://voiceofdetroit.net/2015/01/15/suburban-robocops-like-those-involved-in-jackson-beating-on-the-loose-in-detroit-for-years/

Protest Jan. 14 at GPP headquarters: “No Justice, No Peace, Stop Racist Police;” end federal, state tax funding of multi-jurisdictional police forces
Highland Park cop involved in Andrew Jackson, Jr. beating has long record of assaults

DETROIT – Detroit Police Chief James Craig has washed his hands of involvement in the brutal beating of Black Detroiter Andrew Jackson, Jr., 51, by white Highland Park, Harper Woods, and Grosse Pointe Park cops Jan. 12, saying no Detroit officer was involved.  The police claim Jackson carjacked a woman and her two grandchildren at gunpoint.

But the question arises: why have Craig and previous chiefs allowed suburban cops free rein in Detroit for years?

The earliest news accounts of Jackson’s beating, caught on cellphone videotape by Detroiter Emma Craig, implied the carjacking took place in Grosse Pointe Park. However, the carjacking he is alleged to have committed took place far from that 99 percent east side white suburb, in west-side Detroit near Fenkell and Evergreen.

“You don’t become a criminal to catch a criminal,” said Ron Scott of the Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality, Inc. during a protest outside the Grosse Pointe Park police headquarters Jan. 14.

“Those cops violated their own standards of safety when they beat Mr. Jackson before searching him. That beating had no place in a civil society; people are innocent until they are proven guilty. It’s sickening the Grosse Pointe Park Police Chief said it was justified, and that Chief Craig cares so little about Detroiters that he said he isn’t concerned about Detroit cops not being residents, and allows suburban cops into Detroit.”

Jackson’s attorney, Ben Gonek, told the Detroit Free Press that Jackson has a “serious eye injury,” and that the police were guilty of excessive force. The videotape shows Jackson being punched and kicked on the ground by two cops, as he calls out imploringly, “Jesus.”  An officer kneels on his back and says, “What did you say? Jesus? Are you calling Jesus? Don’t you dare! Don’t you f—king dare!”

The officers then bump fists to congratulate each other, and the Harper Woods officer says “that’s a justified ass whoopin.” (See full video with commentary below.)

Scott expressed doubt about Grosse Pointe Park Police Chief David Hiller’s statement that the cops found a gun in Jackson;s waistband. The full version of the  nine-minute videotape, cut short by most news outlets, contradicts that. It shows a white female and a white male cop stand Jackson up to search him, beginning from his feet on up. The white male declares as he is halfway up Jackson’s leg, “Oh, HERE’s the gun.” There is a slight note of sarcasm in his voice. 


Jackson is being held by Grosse Pointe Park police on parole violation matters. His record includes four very long sentences imposed for one incident in 2003 involving armed robbery and fleeing police in Oakland County,  two cases of receiving stolen property in 1995 and 1997, and two other “inactive” 1999 sentences of fleeing police and receiving stolen property. The Michigan Department of Corrections website says he absconded from parole April 3, 2014.

The Wayne County Prosecutor’s office has not yet approved a warrant for his arrest on the carjacking incident. The victim of that incident said in two interviews that she supports police actions in beating Jackson, although she does not say whether she identified him in a line-up as the man who carjacked her.

Since the protest, the Detroit Free Press has named Highland Park Sgt. Ronald Dupuis as one of the cops. Their article says he has a long history of assaults in various suburban departments, including tasering a female partner, beating a disabled man, refusing to allow a woman in a jail cell access to a bathroom, forcing her to urinate in the cell, and stalking another woman, repeatedly pulling her over. He was fired from the Hamtramck Police Department for the taser incident, and resigned rather than being fired from the Southgate Police Department for the incidents involving the women.

Dupuis was also sued for beating a man in 2002, with a settlement, and false arrest in 2004. In 2012, he accidentally shot himself in the foot in a police station. (Click on Ronald DuPuis record DV Project for full accounting from a domestic violence project.)




The protest was attended by Dawud Walid, Executive Director of the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MI), and over a dozen others.

They  included Eric Taylor, who told VOD he was the victim of a carjacking in Grosse Pointe Park on June 12 last year. “I had my wife call the police for help,” Taylor said.

“My friend and I were at a gas station getting a sandwich when my car was taken as I walked back to it. When the GPP police got there, they cut me off when I was explaining, and told me I matched the description of a carjacking suspect. Then they threated to “blow my f—king head off,” told me I was nothing but an animal, called me a n—-r, and told me if I sued they would come and kill my family.”


He showed VOD a cellphone photo taken by his daughter of his head a few days after the beating. He said he still suffers from headaches and other effects of the beating.

Grosse Pointe Park police were involved earlier in a racist incident where they forced a developmentally disabled Black Detroiter, who used to go into the Pointes to collect bottles, to sing and perform for them, then circulated several cellphone videos of the actions.

Grosse Pointe Park founded A.C.T.I.O.N. (Arresting Car Thieves in Our Neighborhoods) about ten years ago, using an initial $350,000 grant from the state of Michigan and funds from state car insurance companies. It originally included only the Wayne County Sheriff’s Department, and police departments from Grosse Pointe Park, Grosse Pointe City, and Harper Woods. Since that time, other departments including Warren and Detroit have been added according to news reports.

Hiller included names of the Chiefs from all those departments on his press release on the incident, although Craig said he had not seen it.

Detroit has its own task force, however. The Detroit One Partnership announced the formation of a carjacking task force in April 2014, including the Detroit Police Department, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Marshal’s Service, Homeland Security Investigations, Michigan State Police, Michigan Department of Corrections, Wayne County Sheriff’s Department, Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office and U.S. Attorney’s Office. 

Emma Craig, who videotaped Jackson’s beating, said she also saw officers at the scene with I.C.E. (Immigrations and Customs Enforcement) jackets.

In addition to the Detroit One and ACTION Task Forces, the State of Michigan has run an anti-carjacking task force called H.E.A.T. (Help Eliminate Auto Thefts) for the past 23 years.

Numerous protesters of the Michael Brown killing in Ferguson, MO. Aug. 9 have condemned federal provision of military equipment including tanks, assault weapons, flash-bang grenades, flak vests, and other equipment to city police to carry out raids like the one that resulted in the death of seven-year-old Detroiter Aiyana Jones on May 16, 2010, and assaults on anti-police brutality marches.

“We resent that our public tax dollars are being used to fund such programs,” Scott said. Others noted the money would be far better spent on programs to provide jobs, end homelessness, build decent schools, and repair the infrastructures of the nations’ cities.

















Officer Ronald Dupuis' past law enforcement history:





Feb. 17, 1997: Officer Ronald Dupuis written up for careless driving while on duty. Ecorse Police Department.



Between 1997 and 1998: Officer Ronald Dupuis leaves the Ecorse PD and becomes an officer with the Southgate PD.



October 08, 1998: Officer Ronald Dupuis allegedly beat up a mentally disabled man. Southgate PD.



November 04, 1998: Officer Ronald Dupuis reprimanded by the Southgate Police Department for the October 8th beating incident.



Dec. 24, 1998: Officer Ronald Dupuis accused of falsifying overtime slips. Southgate PD.



March 16, 1999: Officer Ronald Dupuis accused of stalking a woman and repeatedly pulling her over while he was on duty. Southgate PD.



March 30, 1999: Officer Ronald Dupuis was informed that he would be fired from the Southgate PD [Stalking incident].



April 02, 1999: Officer Ronald Dupuis resigned from the Southgate PD, to avoid being fired for stalking incident.



Sometime after April 02, 1999: Officer Ronald Dupuis was hired by the Highland Police Department [after resigning from the Southgate PD, to avoid being fired for stalking incident].



Nov. 7, 2000: Officer Ronald Dupuis was laid off by the Highland Park Public Safety department.



Sometime after November 07, 2000: Officer Ronald Dupuis was hired by the Hamtramck PD, after being laid off by the Highland PD.



April 21, 2002: Officer Ronald Dupuis was accused of assaulting a man during a traffic stop. Hamtramck PD. Resulted in a lawsuit, which was settled for $20,000 on November 05, 2005. Dupuis was not fired from the Hamtramack PD. for this incident.



2004: Hamtramck police officer Dupuis was sued by a man who alleged Dupuis wrongfully arrested him and had him jailed for no reason. The man was released without being charged. His lawsuit was settled for an undisclosed amount.



Nov. 3, 2005: Officer Ronald Dupuis was accused of discharging a Taser stun gun and striking his female partner, Officer Prema Graham, in the leg with the weapon. [Hamtramack PD]



Nov. 10, 2005: Officer Ronald Dupuis was fired from the Hamtramck Police Department for tasering Officer Prema Graham.



Sometime after November 10, 2005: Officer Ronald Dupuis won legal challenges related to the tasering incident Officer Prema Graham, and the Hamtramck PD's firing of him.



Sometime after November 10, 2005: Officer Ronald Dupuis returned to duty at the Highland Police Department [previously laid off from department in November 2000].



Dec. 7, 2005: Officer Ronald Dupuis charged with misdemeanor assault and battery in connection with the Taser incident.



April 01, 2006: Officer Ronald Dupuis found not guilty at trial of November 2005 taser incident against Officer Prema Graham



June 16, 2006: Officer Ronald Dupuis won an unemployment claim dispute against the City of Hamtramck for their firing of him after the November 2005 taser incident Officer Prema Graham. Chief of Police also refused to reinstate Dupuis.



2006: Officer Ronald Dupuis filed a lawsuit against the City of Hamtramck and Officer Prema Graham [November 2005 taser incident]



August 2006: City of Hamtramck lost appeal on Officer Ronald Dupuis' unemployment.



November 01, 2006: Officer Ronald Dupuis filed a lawsuit against the City of Hamtramck: Civil Rights / Employment. Police Chief refused to reinstate him. [November 2005 taser incident of Officer Graham].



January 2007: Officer Ronald Dupuis filed suit to be reinstated to Hamtramck PD, following his being terminated after November 2005 taser incident against Officer Prema Graham.



October 31, 2008: Officer Ronald Dupuis filed suit against City of Hamtramck.



2012: Officer Ronald Dupuis was accused of choking a woman who was in custody.



February 28, 2012: Officer Ronald Dupuis filed a suit against Highland Park: Civil Rights / Employment.



May 22, 2012: Officer Ronald Dupuis' gun "accidently" went off outside the department's cell block. Dupuis was shot in the leg. Sources at the Highland PD said there would be no disciplinary action taken against Dupuis.



September 19, 2013: Highland Park Officer Ronald Dupuis arrested uniformed / on duty Detroit Parking Enforcement Officer Rhianna Turner and her girlfriend Kera Hill, in front of Detroit PD. Dupuis transported them back to Highland PD and had the women jailed for four days - without charges. Turner lost her job due to the unlawful arrest and imprisonment.



January 12, 2015: An online video from Emma Craig surfaced, showing Officer Dupuis beating a handcuffed Andrew Jackson during an arrest. "Highland Park city attorney Todd Perkins said he's aware of Dupuis' checkered past, although he said he will "draw no conclusions" from it." In April 2015, Highland Park Police Chief Kevin Coney stated that Officer Dupuis was not facing discipline for the beating of Andrew Jackson.



January 14, 2015: Michigan State Police investigation of Officer Ronald Dupuis and other officers for the January beating of Andrew Jackson. Officer Dupuis was not suspended from duty during this criminal investigation.



February 09, 2015: Officer Ronald Dupuis was shot in the leg during a raid. Officer Dupuis was still on active duty despite an MSP investigation of the beating of Andrew Jackson during a January 2015 arrest.



February 13, 2015: Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy began criminal investigation of Officer Ronald Dupuis and other officers for the January 2015 beating of Andrew Jackson. Officer Dupuis was not suspended from duty during this criminal investigation.
"According to the office, it received a warrant request from the Michigan State Police, which investigated the arrest of Andrew Jackson Jr. on Jan. 12 by officers...One of the officers shown in the video making the arrest is Highland Park Sgt. Ron Dupuis..."



February 25, 2015: Lawsuit filed by Andrew Jackson against Officer Ronald Dupuis for January 2015 beating.



April 15, 2015: Lawsuit filed by Rhianna Turner and Kera Hill against Officer Ronald Dupuis for unlawful arrest and false imprisonment [September 2013]



April 20, 2015: Officer Dupuis cleared by Prosecutor Kym Worthy of criminal charges in the January 2015 beating of Andrew Jackson.
"Worthy did not defend some of the officers’ conduct.  She said some of Sgt. Dupuis’s behavior was improper and warrants possible punishment from his superiors. Still, Worthy said, charges aren’t warranted."



April 20, 2015: Highland Park Police Chief Kevin Coney announced that Officer Ronald Dupuis was not facing disciplinary action for the January beating of Andrew Jackson.