GM has suspended the arrest powers of security forces at the GM Renaissance Center (RenCen) following allegations of harassment and abuse among white officers targeting black visitors. A number of incidents are cited dating back to 2011, and include injuries and hospitalizations. The General Motors RenCen in Detroit, Michigan serves as the automaker’s world headquarters.
According to a recent report from Detroit Free Press, which cites a statement by General Motors spokesperson Kevin Kelly, RenCen officers are no longer permitted to carry handcuffs, while the number of officers permitted to carry guns has been reduced. Some officers still carry weapons for protection against dangers like active shooters.
The accusations of harassment and abuse go back more than a decade, and detail a pattern of systemic racism among white officers targeting black visitors. The accusations include unlawful detention of individuals in a basement cell of the RenCen building, as well as one man who claims he suffered a brain injury after he was assaulted by white officers. The man says that he was detained for hours in a basement cell, denied the use of a restroom, and forced to urinate on himself. The incident resulted in a federal lawsuit filed early last year, while the man targeted was never charged with a crime.
One woman claims that a white security officer struck her in the face and beat her after an argument over whether she could bring her bike inside the RenCen last August. The woman, who is in her 60s, suffers from mental illness, and was hospitalized for a month after the incident. Video of the incident shows a security officer slamming the woman into a concrete pillar, forcing her to the ground, and repeatedly punching her in the face. A Detroit Police Department official says the woman allegedly attacked a security officer with a tree branch, although no criminal charges were filed against her.
The GM RenCen security force was initially formed by General Motors, and now includes ties with G4S Secure Solutions and Allied Universal.
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Comments
im confused. how can somebody have arrest powers if not LEO? that is controlled by the state regardless if on private or public property.
security has detain rights, not arrest powers. arrest is fundamentally different from detainment on private property. arrest is a formal charge of the STATE vs you. is GM the state now that it can arrest people for policy?
somebody from MI can explain this? or is this the case of another amazing word salad on GMA like when they cannot get the difference between termination and furlough…..
Everybody has a right to make a citizen’s arrest and that’s all security officers can do since their not sworn peace officers. GM I would guess is now telling their security officers not to make citizen’s arrests and instead call the police. However, GM cannot take that right away since it is a right of every citizen.
i dont think you understand what citizens arrest is and what it applies to………………………………………. also no, you dont have the right to that. its not a right. we call it kidnapping and its a felony. its one of the most niche pray you never get in that situations sections of the law.
Idiot
MCL 764.16, a private person may make an arrest in the following situations:
(a) For a felony committed in the private person’s presence.
(b) If the person to be arrested has committed a felony although not in the private person’s presence.
(c) If the private person is summoned by a peace officer to assist the officer in making an arrest.
(d) If the private person is a merchant, an agent of a merchant, an employee of a merchant, or an independent contractor providing security for a merchant of a store and has reasonable cause to believe that the person to be arrested [has committed retail fraud-first degree, retail fraud-second degree or retail fraud-third degree], in that store, regardless of whether the violation was committed in the presence of the private person (also known as “shopkeeper’s privilege”.
Yes it’s your right in the state of Michigan to perform a citizens arrest. It is in pretty much every state in the Union.
Sell the ren cen.
There are plenty of unused offices and
In existing us factories.
These people can move with their jobs just like GM has been doing with hourly workers for the past 30 plus years when they close plants and offshore jobs.
Time to pack your bags Barra.
Certain organizations have limited powers of arrest in Michigan. They are regulated by Public Act 330 and are regulated by MCOLES, the state licensing commission. They have ‘police authority’ and can make misdemeanor arrests on the property they work for. I believe it’s 13 agencies in the State. Mostly hospitals, there was a mall, but those officers were stripped of authority as well.