GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The Grand Rapids Police Department's Chief of Staff, Karianne Thomas, has announced her resignation from the department, according to David Green, GRPD's Communications Director.
Green says Thomas did not resign based on performance, but her own choosing.
Thomas had been with GRPD for three months, after being let go from the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety last summer. She served the KDPS for eight years.
The department received pushback from multiple activism groups after announcing the Chief of Staff position had been given to Thomas in June.
Justice for Black Lives was one of the groups in opposition to Thomas joining the Grand Rapids Police Department, and the group's president says she was shocked to hear the news.
"I think it kind of came out of nowhere," Aly says. "But I'm also glad that she resigned. I mean, she should have never been hired in the first place."
She says Thomas's hiring felt intentional by the police department.
"It was definitely a slap in the face to have someone with her history be hired at the police department, especially since we have been demanding transparency and accountability towards its officers," Aly says.
The position had been created by GRPD as part of the department's strategic plan. Aly says she never heard from Thomas in her three months with the department.
"It kind of just raised the question as to 'What community are you interacting with?' Because we're downtown, almost every single week," she says.
Thomas's responsibilities will be absorbed into the department for now until the next police chief takes over and fills the position. Current Chief Eric Payne is set to retire early next year.
Kareem Scales with the Greater Grand Rapids Branch of the NAACP told 13ONYOURSIDE, "It's disappointing and not surprising. It speaks to the need for a change in leadership for the Grand Rapids Police Department. Hopefully, the next police chief and chief of staff are dedicated to actual, long-term, transformational change in Grand Rapids."
Aly says the message behind Justice for Black Lives remains the same.
"I just would want next steps to be as we usually say, defunding GRPD to 32 percent, putting that funding back into the community and actually holding their officers accountable," she says.
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