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State Trooper Craig Tuer
State Trooper Craig Tuer, a 20-year veteran of the Michigan State Police, who is on administrative leave, has sent an email to the state Department of Civil Rights claiming the department's policies have led to racial profiling.
"Now the police I do not believe for a minute are inherently racist, but the policies that are put in place reward a racist behavior," Tuer tells Fox 2.
Randly Wimbley of Fox 2 reports that Tuer says it starts at the top with commanders getting bonus pay for their post's performance, and troopers getting overtime for court appearances or jail runs. He says there are also quotas for writing tickets.
For instance, if a post averages 100 tickets from traffic stops, a trooper needs to bring in 70 to remain in good standing, Fox 2 reports.
"If I give too many breaks, if I fall below the 70 percent now my performance rating is lowered and now I have a post commander that's lowering his money he's got coming in," Tuer tells Fox 2. "Now I become a target."
Tuer claims troopers are trained to target minorities, because they may be under-insured, under-licensed and impoverished, so they're less likely to get a lawyer to fight a traffic stop in court.
Fox 2 reports that the trooper was accused at one point of extorting his superiors but was cleared of those allegations. He then went on a sick leave and when he returned was placed on administrative leave in October, but says he was not a given a reason why.
Michigan State Police blasted Tuer's allegations saying in a statement:
"... Strongly objects to any insinuation that there is institutionalized racism in our department. Troopers are not required to write a certain amount of traffic tickets. The areas subject to the 70% baseline evaluation are: fugitive arrests, investigative and patrol arrests, investigative and patrol complaints, traffic stops (not tickets)."
