EAST LANSING, Mich. – As Michigan State University prepares to host tens of thousands of fans for its annual rivalry game against the University of Michigan, controversy over police conduct in East Lansing has moved from the sidelines to center stage.
Video released in the wake of MSU Welcome Week shows multiple East Lansing Police Department (ELPD) encounters in which officers used pepper spray and a taser during arrests of Black men.
Those videos, combined with reported remarks from ELPD Chief Jen Brown — who reportedly told a local news outlet, “During welcome weekend we had a disproportionate number of minorities come into the community and commit crimes” — have prompted accusations of racial bias and calls for accountability.
Local news footage and body-worn camera clips circulated after welcome week include images of a pepper-spray incident and a separate taser deployment.
Critics say the footage contradicts the department’s earlier public account of those incidents. The charges in at least one of the highlighted cases were later dismissed.
Harold A. Pope, President of the NAACP Lansing Branch, said the videos and department data point to over-policing of Black residents.
“Looking at some of the data, they are over-aggressive. They are over-policing Black people,” Pope said, and he has publicly urged city leaders to take action.
“If the chief doesn’t resign,” Pope told Local 4 investigators, “I want the city manager to understand the situation and release her. She is a thorn in the City’s side. She has created an environment, a toxic environment that perpetuates the stereotyping of Black people.”
Kath Edsell, Vice Chair of the East Lansing Police Oversight Commission, said residents are seeking clearer information about how the department operates and how decisions are made.
“People are asking questions. People are pushing for transparency and accountability,” Edsell said.
Weeks ago, the department published a press release and provided a redacted video of the pepper-spray incident.
Days later, additional footage emerged that critics say tells a different story than the initial police narrative.
Oversight members and community activists have also criticized what they describe as the chief’s resistance to oversight.
“Her unwillingness to hear any criticism, constructive or otherwise, has been a problem since day one,” Edsell said. “She has pushed back on anything and everything police oversight has done. She runs on the narrative that police are perfect. They do everything exactly right.”
At the time of reporting, neither Chief Jen Brown nor the East Lansing City Manager responded to requests for an interview from Local 4. The city’s mayor said he was unavailable.
Not all community members are calling for immediate personnel changes.
At a recent City Council meeting, some residents urged caution and urged the public to give the department the benefit of the doubt.
“My opinion is that perhaps the chief of police might not owe an apology. And that the police department, perhaps, might be owed an apology. For doing a very, very difficult job and being hurried at every turn,” one resident said.
Local 4 investigators reviewed city arrest records and found arrests in the last two months are up compared with the same period last year.
However, the available records provided to Local 4 do not include a demographic breakdown that would show arrest totals by race or gender, leaving key questions about disparities unanswered.
Community leaders and oversight officials say they will continue pushing for transparency, data, and leadership accountability.
The controversy comes as the city prepares for one of its largest events of the year — the MSU–Michigan rivalry game — when tens of thousands of visitors will be in East Lansing.