A disgraced former Detroit cop was able to get another job at the Eastpointe Police Department because both cities failed to comply with a state law aimed at preventing officers from moving from agency to agency after committing misconduct.
Kairy Roberts landed a job in Eastpointe last year, despite an internal investigation in Detroit that found he had punched an unarmed man in the face in Greektown, failed to provide medical aid, and then lied about the encounter in August 2021.
After Roberts resigned under pressure from the Detroit Police Department, the city did not report the alleged misconduct — as required — to the Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standards (MCOLES), which handles licensing for cops, according to MCOLES executive director Timothy Bourgeois.
In fact, DPD reported that Roberts “resigned in good standing,” Bourgeois tells Metro Times.
“You have to notify MCOLES and explain why an employee separated, and you have to report the reasons they left and describe the circumstances surrounding it,” Bourgeois says.
In a statement to Metro Times on Tuesday morning, DPD acknowledged the failure and said it’s launching an internal investigation.
“Following review of internal documents, the DPD has preliminarily concluded that an employee did not properly update an MCOLES document following Mr. Roberts’s resignation from the Detroit Police Department,” DPD’s media relations team said. “This issue has been turned over to the appropriate command for investigation. However, information related to the incident in Greektown was contained in Mr. Roberts’s personnel file and was open to inspection by any police agencies performing employee background checks.”
After Roberts applied for a law enforcement job in Eastpointe, the police department hired him and falsely claimed to MCOLES that he had met the character fitness standards, which is required for officers to get their licenses reactivated. Those standards are intended to prevent abusive cops from getting another law enforcement job in the state.
After recently learning about the two-year-old allegations against Roberts, MCOLES suspended Roberts’s license last month, saying he did not meet the character fitness standards. The Eastpointe Police Department then placed Roberts on leave, and he resigned soon after.
“Neither agency fulfilled their duties in reporting separation or requesting reactivation,” Bourgeois says.
It’s unclear why then-Eastpointe Police Chief George Rouhib reported that Roberts met the character fitness standards, but it does appear that he was aware of the allegations against Roberts.
The department’s current chief, Corey Haines, couldn’t provide much insight into why the city hired Roberts.
“Unfortunately, I do now know what the previous administrator used for criteria for hiring,” Haines says. “It is my understanding that he was aware of the incident.”
In May, Rouhib was hired as chief of the Rochester Police Department.
Cardi DeMonaco, an Eastpointe city councilman, says the city should never have hired Roberts. Not only did he punch a man who “wasn’t physically a threat,” but he also lied about it, DeMonaco says.
“If we have to have an officer go into court, how are we supposed to believe him when he wasn’t truthful about [the Detroit incident]?” DeMonaco tells Metro Times. “That would be a huge concern for me.”
He adds, “All in all, I’m happy that Mr. Roberts is not working for our department any longer.”
An internal investigation by the Detroit Police Department in July 2022 concluded that Roberts punched Marcus Alston in the face, even though he didn’t appear to pose a threat, and left him splayed out on the street, despite his injuries. Roberts then falsely claimed Alston had taken a fighting stance and assaulted another police officer, even though he did neither, the internal investigation found. In fact, Alston was punched while he was asking for the badge numbers of police officers who allegedly assaulted several people while dispersing a crowd in Greektown.
Alston sued Roberts and the Detroit Police Department, and that lawsuit is wending its way through federal court.
In 2017, the state Legislature tried to put a stop to “wandering cops” — officers who move from one department to the next after committing misconduct — by passing a law that requires police departments to retain records that explain why an officer leaves. The law also requires officers to sign a waiver to allow other departments to view their previous records.
But the law doesn’t work if police departments don’t properly report officer misconduct, Bourgeois says.
With more than 18,000 licensed officers in the state, “the commission cannot personally investigate each officer to determine if they meet the standards, specifically the character fitness standards,” Bourgeois says.
So the onus is on law enforcement agencies to accurately report alleged misconduct, he says.
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