LANSING, MICH. The Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standards (MCOLES) is conducting a series of community forums and is conducting a community engagement survey to gather input from all Michigan residents on how to strengthen public trust, confidence and community relations between law enforcement and community members throughout Michigan.
MCOLES is the state agency that sets standards for the law enforcement profession in Michigan, including recruiting, training, and professional licensing (www.michigan.gov/MCOLES). On October 4, 2016, Gov. Rick Snyder issued Executive Directive 2016-2, directing MCOLES to undertake a study and produce a report by May 1, 2017 with a set of recommendations on how best to build a foundation of trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve.
MCOLES cannot do this without input from residents. In addition to the public forums, MCOLES has made a community engagement survey available to everyone online HERE. There also are Spanish and Arabic translations of the survey available online HERE
Since the survey opened January 10, 2017 nearly 4,900 Michigan residents have completed the survey, sharing both positive and negative perceptions and interactions with Michigan law enforcement.
“With more than 9 million residents in Michigan, we have many more opinions to collect so I encourage everyone to take advantage of this opportunity and complete the survey,” Gov. Snyder said. “It is vital that MCOLES receive input from residents from across the state and from all communities to ensure they receive a good cross-section of experiences and opinions.”
The public forums are another way for residents to participate and provide feedback. The forums are led by professional facilitators who are specifically trained to lead these events.
The remaining forums are as follows:
| City | Date | Time |
| Flint, Michigan | February 23, 2017 | 6:00pm – 8:00 pm |
| Marquette, Michigan | February 27, 2017 | 6:00pm – 8:00 pm |
| Grand Rapids, Michigan | To Be Announced | To Be Announced |
Visit the Michigan.gov website for specific locations and additional information regarding the forums.
The goal of the forums and the online survey is to gauge how residents and law enforcement can work together to make local communities safe and secure along with producing a set of recommendations to strengthen public trust and confidence between law enforcement and communities across Michigan.
In addition to the online survey, MCOLES has established a special email address so citizens can share general ideas by sending comments to MCOLES-ExecDir2016-2@michgan.gov.
Those responding to the survey or email box will not be identified personally nor will responses be tied to individual communities or groups. The survey does not ask for any personal identifying information. The survey does ask for zip code to ensure all regions of the state are represented and asks for voluntary information on gender, race, and age to ensure all community groups in Michigan are represented.
