LANSING, Mich., Nov. 12, 2021 — The Michigan House Republicans unveiled a roughly $250 million supplemental this week for police training, recruitment and support months after similar proposals by House Democrats were denied.
“Law enforcement officers put their lives on the line to protect and serve our communities, and it’s time we provide the real support our law enforcement needs,” said state Rep. Tyrone Carter (D-Detroit), a former Wayne County sheriff’s deputy. “We should be focusing on the needs of our first responders and neighborhoods, not playing partisan politics. If the proposals by myself and other Democratic colleagues to provide training, equipment and resources were accepted months ago, we would already be feeling this funding in our communities. It’s great that police departments are finally receiving this money. Next time, I hope we are able to put this game behind us and work more quickly to make our communities safer.”
“While I’m glad to finally see additional funding proposed for our police departments, it’s unfortunate that our state’s firefighters and EMS personnel currently facing many of the same challenges are being left out,” said state Rep. Terry Sabo (D-Muskegon), a former police officer and firefighter. “We should have taken a bipartisan look at the issues affecting all of our state’s first responders. Instead, the Republican majority chose to fly solo for political points and once again use our police officers as political pawns. We have former police officers and firefighters on both sides of the aisle that want to bring real relief to our hardworking first responders, but we can’t do that without a seat at the table.”