KALAMAZOO (WKZO-AM) — Kalamazoo Public Safety Chief Jeff Hadley has written an open letter to the community to discuss the debate over the hand gesture used by Officer Tim Millard, which he says was intended as a simple greeting but interpreted as threatening by the young African-American male who filed the complaint.
The chief is inviting the complainant to a sit down to discuss it.
City Commissioner Erin Knott said she agrees with the chief. But she also said there is a much larger problem still out there that must be discussed.
She attended Saturday’s forum and heard first hand some the tension and fears that residents have.
The letter is posted below:
Open Letter to our Community
I wanted to take this opportunity to speak to and address the situation regarding PSO TimMillard and his use of a hand gesture to respond to a wave from a citizen. On its face itmay seem very simplistic but today we are not in a very simplistic time.The emotion and energy behind police community relations is at an unprecedented leveland the critical analysis of simple interactions such as the one between PSO Millard andthe citizen is an important one.In speaking to PSO Millard regarding this incident he said that there was no ill intent ormaliciousness in the manner in which he waved back to the gentleman. It is, and has beenhis way of waving, communicating “hey,” “what’s up,” etc on a regular basis, even in hispersonal life! PSO Millard is a fine officer who cares about this community, and puts onhis uniform every day to make Kalamazoo a better place.I understand and respect what the gentleman who took the picture said about “feelingthreatened” as well as others who share the same sentiment. We do not minimize thosefeelings. We welcome the opportunity to sit down and discuss this with him so we can allhave a better understanding of each other and our place in the world.In the meantime as we speak KDPS officers are responding to calls for service in ourcommunity, trying to solve problems and engaging the community in a variety of ways.Tonight is “National Night Out” where nine of our neighborhoods will participate andprovide a wonderful opportunity to build community and interact with your Public SafetyDepartment.I assure you these men and women would love to see you and have a chance to show youwho they are!To the greater community I offer up our continued commitment to building relationshipsin our community. This must be an on-going, perpetual and continuous endeavor where
both police and community have to share in that responsibility. While I believe we havedone tremendous work in changing the direction and culture of the organization thissituation demonstrates there is still much work to be done. I invite and would love tohear all suggestions and recommendations on what KDPS can do to enhance policecommunity relations and provide optimum service to the citizens of Kalamazoo.We are committed to doing this work with “you”, our community. Let us resist thetemptation at taking the polarizing positions that can rob officers of their spirit or leavemembers of the community voiceless in the process.
