Michigan State Police in turmoil amid Flint promotion scandal, high-level departures

LANSING — The Michigan State Police, reeling from a 2023 exam-rigging scandal at the Flint post that ended five careers, is in turmoil amid controversial promotions, a wave of departures, and the director's response to a fatal chase.

The names and faces are new, but much of the upheaval is not. The upper levels of the state police have been rocked for years by lawsuits, feuds, and resentments as the agency historically dominated by white males has sought to diversify, records show. One white lieutenant was so disgruntled after being passed over for promotion by a Black woman that his supervisor consulted a psychologist to get a sense of whether he might harm himself or others, according to sworn testimony in previous lawsuits.

Meanwhile, the racial diversity of the MSP continues to worsen, even after accounting for Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s appointment of a Black director, Col. James Grady, in September. Four years ago, 5.9% of all MSP officers were Black. Today, it’s 4.9%. The percentage of officers with a rank of inspector or higher who are Black was 8.3% in June 2020. Today, it’s down to 2.8%. Only one Black recruit was among the class of 54 that joined the MSP at a graduation ceremony in Lansing on Friday.

Accelerating change to the MSP's racial and gender makeup — which many policing and social policy experts agree is long overdue to improve its effectiveness — is complicated by nationwide recruitment challenges, Michigan's constitutional ban on affirmative action, and the department’s paramilitary structure, through which officers typically work their way up, one rank at a time. Also, with hundreds of other public and private police agencies struggling to make their departments better reflect the communities they serve, high-performing Black and female officers who are fast-tracked for promotion frequently leave the MSP after receiving more attractive offers elsewhere.

Now, the controversies — which in many cases have a racial subtext — are intensifying, with both the Michigan State Police Troopers Association and the Michigan State Police Command Officers Association criticizing Grady’s leadership.

Rapid promotions, demotions raise concerns

Having a Black MSP director isn't new or controversial. Grady is the third in the department's history. But Grady's selection of an officer with recent discipline on her record as his No. 2, combined with other recent decisions, has surfaced long-simmering tensions and resentments and created new ones.

Two high-level officers, who had reached the rank of lieutenant colonel and major, including the highest-ranking woman in a classified position, unexpectedly retired June 1. On the civilian side, the longtime human resources director, Stephanie Horton, left suddenly after 23 years, describing her final few months as “really tumultuous” in a message to a colleague obtained through Michigan's Freedom of Information Act.

"Changes in leadership," Horton, a white woman who as HR director had played a role in MSP diversity efforts, said in her April exit interview when asked why she was leaving for a job at MSU. "It is starting to fracture the staff."

Then, the woman appointed to replace Horton announced she had changed her mind about taking the job, just days before she was scheduled to start, citing "personal reasons."

In May, the troopers association said in a memo to its members that its leadership has been in discussions with the governor's office since early April regarding "concerns with MSP leadership." The director's response to a fatal MSP chase in Kentwood, which the union viewed as a rush to judgment against an officer later charged with second-degree murder, "shifted discussions from membership concerns to a no-confidence status," said the memo, obtained by the Free Press. Separately, the head of an MSP association representing command officers accused Grady in January of being untruthful when he was questioned by internal affairs in connection with the Flint post scandal.

Grady, who Whitmer promoted up three ranks from captain to colonel, in December selected 1st Lt. Aimee Brimacombe, a white woman, as his No. 2, promoting her up four ranks to lieutenant colonel, with the title chief deputy director. In March, Grady announced that he would not renew the contracts of four top officers Brimacombe vaulted over when she was promoted, including three white men and Maj. Beth Clark, who is white and was one of only a few women in the top echelons of the MSP.

Colonel is the top rank in the MSP pecking order, ahead of lieutenant colonel, major, captain, inspector, 1st lieutenant, lieutenant, sergeant, and trooper, in that order. Majors and lieutenant colonels are frequently appointed on two-year contracts, meaning they can be bounced back to a lower rank if their contracts are not renewed.

Brimacombe, a lawyer who went through recruit school with Grady, was selected despite being disciplined in 2021 for using an MSP vehicle for personal purposes, over a six-month period, and for being "insubordinate" when she refused to immediately return the vehicle as directed, records show. Under a settlement agreement the Free Press obtained through the Michigan FOIA, Brimacombe received a five-day suspension, which was enforced by requiring her to forfeit a week of her vacation time.

Clark achieved many "firsts" as a woman in the MSP. She said Grady told her none of the demotions were performance-related, but that he wanted a shared vision as he built his leadership team.

In terms of helping Grady achieve his vision, “we would have been happy to do that if we knew what it was,” Clark told the Free Press in March. Clark, who is 57 and had planned to work five more years, instead opted to retire, effective June 1. She has a new job with an organization focused on school safety.

Also opting to retire June 1, rather than accept a demotion, was Lt. Col. Chris Kelenske. He was a familiar face to many Michiganders as an MSP deputy director who oversaw homeland security, played a major role in the state’s response to the Flint water crisis and has trained police agencies around the U.S. on leadership and responding to terrorism threats.

Kelenske, 53, who said he would have stayed longer, would not comment on how he viewed the leadership changes. He said he loves the agency, wishes it the best, and will always support the director and other MSP leaders.

“He was selected as the boss, and he made the decisions he made,” Kelenske said of Grady. “I’ll leave it at that.”

One of the four demoted by Grady, Maj. Ryan Pennell, later applied for and received a promotion to a vacant lieutenant colonel's position.

Grady's elevation of Brimacombe, who had clashed with other MSP leaders, including Horton's HR department, over disciplinary issues, shocked many inside the MSP. The demotion of Clark was also surprising given her record and the dearth of women in the MSP's top ranks.

During a brief interview Friday, Grady declined to discuss the Brimacombe appointment or recent criticism from the troopers and command officers associations.

“I come into this job every day, I do the best I can,” Grady said.

“I don’t have time to keep worrying about what happened in the past. I need to focus on what we need to accomplish in the future.”

In separate statements issued through a spokeswoman, Grady said his role and mission is "to support the dedicated, hardworking men and women of this agency and to serve the people of Michigan," and "every decision I’ve made has been done with that mission in mind." And he praised Brimacombe as "an exceptional leader" with a decorated career. "I am proud to have her on our leadership team," Grady said.

Brimacombe did not respond to an email seeking comment.

Grady questioned in Flint post scandal

Grady, 51, was questioned by internal affairs in January in connection with an investigation of 1st Lt. Yvonne Brantley, the Black commander of the MSP Flint post who was forced to retire that month, to avoid being fired. The investigation determined that Brantley rigged promotion exams by giving selected candidates the questions in advance, "created and maintained an environment of distrust and fear," and "fabricated influence and authority through threatening and intimidating words and behavior."

Grady was a friend of Brantley's who told her to "be careful" during the investigation, according to an audio recording of Grady's Jan. 5 internal affairs interview, obtained by the Free Press.

Records show Brantley invoked Grady’s name during the investigation, telling troopers who were potential witnesses — in what investigators believe was an effort to influence their statements — that she had spoken to Grady and he told her there was “no evidence” against her.

"Did you tell her at any point that there was no evidence supporting the allegations?" Grady was asked in the internal affairs interview.

"No," he replied.

Grady told investigators he had known Brantley a long time and they had a professional relationship but had also formed more of a friendship in the previous 18 months, after Grady took charge of the training division in Lansing in June 2020. They regularly talked or texted on their MSP cellphones but sometimes on their personal cellphones as well, Grady said.

Asked whether he discussed the investigation with Brantley, Grady said he didn't ask her about it, but Brantley told him she was upset about it and that she had not been aware any wrongdoing was happening. "I just told her that she needs to be careful," Grady said in the interview. He added in a supplemental email to internal affairs, later that day, that he also told Brantley “not to trust anyone,” due to his belief at the time she hadn’t done anything wrong.

When she was interviewed by internal affairs in December, Brantley said she didn't even have Grady's phone number, the investigator told Grady.

That wasn't true, Grady said. Though his business cell number changed after he became colonel, Brantley had his personal cell number, which had not changed, he said. In fact, she had texted him Jan 2, just days before his internal affairs interview, wanting to speak with him, and he had not responded, he told the investigator.

"I'm actually very disappointed for everything that has occurred," Grady told the investigator. "From what I know of this investigation, that is behavior that is totally inappropriate and has a significant negative impact on the agency, that post, and our profession. So, you know, I'm not happy about it."

Records obtained through FOIA show that Paul Pummill, executive director of the Michigan State Police Command Officers Association, said in a Jan. 22 email to Horton, the HR director who oversaw discipline, that it appeared Grady "did not answer the questions fully and truthfully" during his internal affairs interview, and "minimized and/or mischaracterized" his relationship with Brantley. Pummill has not responded to phone messages from the Free Press.

Department has long grappled with diversity

When Grady took over in September, the department's leadership was already riven by tensions after Grady's white male predecessor, Col. Joseph Gasper, announced at a 2019 meeting of command officers that the MSP was way too male and way too white, according to depositions from some of those who attended the meeting. Improving diversity at all levels, Gasper said, was a priority.

“There was, in my opinion, an outsized emphasis on diversity that seemed to exclude white males," Capt. Thomas Deasy, who is white, testified about that meeting in a 2021 deposition. He didn't recall Gasper's exact words, "but there was this sort of general feeling that, you know, gee, people in my demographic aren’t welcome here," Deasy testified.

Whitmer early in 2020 set a goal of increasing the minority applicant pool to 25% and the female applicant pool to 20%. She couldn't easily set such demographic targets for actual hiring, because Michigan residents in 2006 approved a constitutional amendment banning preferences based on race or gender. Though Black representation in the MSP has declined since then, the representation of women has improved slightly, from just under 9% of all officers in 2020 to 9.5% today. The percentage of women among those with the rank of inspector or higher has improved to 16.7%, up from 11.1% in 2020.

Gasper was a Whitmer appointee who, like Grady, was promoted to colonel from the rank of captain. He oversaw personnel moves, including disciplinary actions, that prompted lawsuits, anger, and resentment, particularly from senior white officers. But Gasper insisted in a 2021 deposition he was following the law and the MSP made no hiring or promotional decisions based on diversity.

Though it didn't receive the media attention that Grady's moves did, Gasper in 2020 demoted three high-level MSP officers by declining to renew their contracts. All three — Lt. Col. William Thomas Sands, Maj. Greg Zarotney, and Lt. Col Richard Arnold, who took a demotion to captain — were white males.

Gasper also made promotions which enlarged the leadership bench of diverse candidates. But Gasper, who announced his retirement in July 2023, was not able to keep many of those he promoted at the agency.

Gasper promoted to lieutenant colonel Kyle Bowman, a Black man who left the MSP in 2022 to become chief of police at the University of Chicago, and Amy Dehner, a white woman named chief deputy director who also left the MSP in 2022 and is now director of global security at Michigan office furniture giant Steelcase. Another high-ranking Black officer, Maj. Emmitt McGowan, who was promoted from captain under Gasper, left the agency in 2022 to join the Wayne County Airport Authority.

Gasper and many other high-ranking MSP officials were questioned under oath in connection with unsuccessful lawsuits brought by former Capt. Michael Caldwell and former Inspector R. Michael Hahn, two white men who in 2020 were demoted and fired, respectively, for their handling of an officer's requested transfer from one post to another. Both alleged they were singled out for disproportionate punishment, as part of a purge of white male command officers intended to make room for more minorities and women, because they had openly criticized the MSP's diversity initiatives under Gasper.

Sands testified he didn't want to retire in January 2020. Gasper "didn't come out and tell me he wanted me to retire," Sands said. "He informed me he was not renewing my contract and that I had an opportunity to demote, if I chose to, and I chose to retire."

Sands, who went to work as a consultant, believed he was the first lieutenant colonel in MSP history not to have his contract renewed. He said he thought part of the reason Gasper wanted him out was so he could increase the diversity of leadership, though that was never specifically communicated to him. "He said it was not performance-based and he couldn't give me any other explanation," Sands testified about Gasper.

Zarotney was demoted from major to inspector before he retired in 2020. He testified in 2021 that although it was "the right thing to do," some high-ranking officers were "taken aback," concerned, and not pleased with Gasper's emphasis on diversifying the department.

In dismissing the Caldwell and Hahn lawsuits in 2021, a federal judge said there was "scant evidence" Gasper had any involvement in their discipline and neither officer had shown they were subject to reverse discrimination.

Caldwell, however, did receive a $40,000 settlement in January and a post-retirement reinstatement to captain, in a separate lawsuit he brought in Livingston County Circuit Court in 2021. Among the allegations was that Brimacombe, who at the time coordinated litigation as commander of the MSP's risk management section, retaliated against him by trying to get him charged with perjury for his deposition testimony in his federal lawsuit. The Livingston County Prosecutor's Office rejected the MSP warrant request.

One case illustrates MSP struggle to diversify

The case of 1st Lt. Twana Powell, a Black woman, illustrates how the MSP has struggled with diversifying its upper ranks and managing the ensuing pushback.

Powell was promoted two ranks, from sergeant to 1st lieutenant, in 2015, to become head of internal affairs.

Despite his stated reservations about the high importance Gasper placed on diversity, Deasy testified in his 2021 deposition that he was on the hiring panel for Powell's promotion and believed she was the most qualified candidate, based partly on the strength of her interview, in which she demonstrated exceptional experience with highly complicated investigations, including corruption investigations, and a strong grasp of a range of other topics, including collective bargaining issues. Zarotney, who was also on the hiring panel, gave similar testimony in 2021.

But Powell's selection over a white male lieutenant was one in a series of personnel decisions contributing to that lieutenant's growing disgruntlement that led Deasy, a captain, to consult with an MSP psychologist around 2018 about the lieutenant's mental health, Deasy testified.

"I wanted to know or hear the doc say I don't see anything here that indicates (the lieutenant is) gonna hurt himself or others," Deasy testified. "That's what I was worried about," he said, adding that he received those reassurances.

Powell, who investigated former Col. Kriste Kibbey Etue, a white woman, for a 2017 incident in which she posted to Facebook a meme denigrating NFL players who knelt for the national anthem, later alleged in her own 2018 lawsuit that high-ranking members of the MSP never accepted her promotion to the critical and sensitive role, and she was subjected to race and sex discrimination and a hostile work environment, causing her to leave the agency.

The MSP in 2020 settled with Powell for $2 million, without admitting wrongdoing or liability.

Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or [email protected]. Follow him on X, @paulegan4.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: MSP in turmoil amid Flint promotion scandal, high-level departures