Detroit Police Department: An "Occupying Force" The Army troops even patrolled with unloaded weapons and were under force escalation instructions to use tear gas before they loaded their rifles to fire on anyone. Army paratroopers operated under orders to use "minimum force" and played a key role in quelling the Uprising and stabilizing the civil unrest in the city without resorting to the extreme and often indiscriminate violence of the DPD and National Guard. The Michigan National Guard division, which consisted mainly of young and inexperienced white men from rural and suburban areas, deployed with orders to "shoot any person seen looting." National Guardsmen killed at least eleven people and, according to many reports, often fired wildly at imagined "snipers" and in the process shot at not only civilians but also other law enforcement units, or at one another, by accident. The Michigan State Police only killed one person (that our project has identified so far), likely because its personnel largely withdrew to patrol other Michigan cities after the military arrived. Despite mass arrests and high levels of police violence, especially on the second and third days, the DPD proved unable to contain the civil unrest without military reinforcements. The Cavanagh administration and DPD hierarchy informed its officers to "use discretion" and "professional judgment" in deciding whether to shoot looters, and the city's police force killed at least 22 people and wounded and brutalized far more. Army divisions were significantly integrated: about one-fourth of the paratroopers were African Americans.Įven more important, the different agencies and units operated under different use of force orders during a declared state of emergency with a citywide curfew. The Michigan State police force was 100% white. Only the U.S.
The DPD was 92% white in 1967, and the National Guard division was 99% white. Almost all of the civilians whom they killed, shot at, arrested, and otherwise sought to pacify and control were African Americans, in particular male teenagers and young adults. Army, 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions (around 5,000 troops)Īlmost all of the law enforcement and military troops were white men.
Michigan National Guard, 46th Infantry Division (around 8,000 troops).Michigan State Police (a majority of the statewide force).Detroit Police Department (riot police, uniformed officers, patrolmen, and undercover units).Patterns of Police Brutality/MisconductĭPD officers and National Guardsmen killed at least 32 people and arrested around 7,000, many without due process State of EmergencyĪround 17,000 law enforcement officers and military troops occupied and patrolled the city of Detroit, and more specifically the African American sections and downtown business district of Detroit, during the six-day Uprising from July 23-28, 1967.
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