Detroit Council President Sheffield to advocate duty-to-intervene ordinance following Tyre Nichols death

Following the brutal death of Tyre Nichols in Memphis, Detroit City Council President Mary Sheffield plans to support an ordinance that would require police officers to intervene if another officer is using excessive force.

In the next couple of weeks, Sheffield’s office tells Metro Times that the council president plans to discuss introducing Cariol’s Law, which would obligate officers to stop police brutality such as the incident that led to Nichols’s death during a Jan. 7 traffic stop in Memphis.

The city of Buffalo first adopted Cariol’s Law in 2020.

The ordinance is named after Cariol Horne, who was forced out of the Buffalo Police Department for trying to stop excessive force.

In addition to establishing a legal requirement for officers to intervene, the ordinance also protects whistleblower cops, creates a reportable registry, and requires an external investigation and mandated reprimands for abuse or misconduct.

“I pledge to do my part to strengthen our ability as a society to identify and remove officers who violate the rights of the citizens they are sworn to serve and protect,” Sheffield said in a statement. “In that [vein], I will be immediately revisiting passing Cariol’s Law in Detroit to help combat this type of misconduct in our Police Department.”

Sheffield called Nichols’s death “a tragic reminder that despite the strides we have made with respect to fighting for our humanity as a people, we still have much work to do to ensure that Black Lives Matter.”

Following Nichols’s death, Black lawmakers also called on the Michigan Legislature to revive a package of bills intended to curb police brutality.

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