The City of Kalamazoo hired OIR Group to conduct an independent review of two critical events that took place in the summer of 2020:the response to protests that took place between May 30 and June 2, 2020, and the response to a march of the Proud Boys in downtown Kalamazoo on August 15, 2020.
The report examines these events based on video and written evidence, interviews with participants, and several community listening sessions. It presents 40 recommendations for the KDPS based on comprehensive analysis of the events. The report acknowledged that the “realities of last summer were more complicated than some believed” and that “KDPS did many things creditably and without a discriminatory motivation.” It also found “room for improvement certainly existed – as is almost always the case with police agencies or any other organization in the aftermath of critical, high-profile incidents.”
In the time since the report was issued, KDPS has collaborated with the community and acted upon each of the 40 recommendations. The final report on actions taken is provided below, published in May 2023.