Court Opinion

ID: 9696224
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 18:41:25.25604+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:20:19.748939
License: Public Domain

T. E. Brennan, J.
(concurring). I cannot agree with the conclusion of my Brother Williams.
He would hold that the residency ordinance invidiously discriminates against police' officers, because no waiver is permitted for them.
By striking the words “police officers” from the first sentence of the ordinance, my Brother would simply amend the ordinance to eliminate all residence requirements for police officers.
What remains is a requirement that firemen and all other classified employees must reside in the city unless they obtain waivers, but policemen are free to live elsewhere without waivers.
*524Having concluded that policemen have been discriminated against, he would correct the situation by discrimination in their favor.
Personally, I disagree with the major premise. I find nothing invidious about the classification which requires police officers to be residents of the city.
That classification amounts to nothing more than a legislative determination that the nature of a police officer’s work is such that he ought to be a resident of the city.
One of the most sensitive problems in law enforcement today is the relationship between the police and the black community. Over 40% of the people of Detroit are black. Less than 10% of the population of suburban Wayne, Oakland and Macomb Counties is black.
The Common Council of the City of Detroit has made a difficult legislative judgment, weighing the desirability of having a resident police force on the streets against the detriment of losing many experienced, dedicated and courageous officers who choose to live in the suburbs.
The common council has chosen a course which will make it more difficult to recruit policemen and keep them. But it has also chosen a course which will make recruitment of black officers more imperative.
The residency requirement is not designed solely to assure that the officer has a greater stake in the city. It is also intended to bring about a more cooperative attitude among the citizenry with whom the police are in daily contact.
The common council wants — desperately needs— to promote a feeling of trust, confidence and fraternity between the people of Detroit and their police department.
*525In that respect and in this time, the constabulary is unique among the municipal departments.
Special treatment of police residency puts them in the category of the judges and other elected officials of the city. That classification is at least debatably productive of proper municipal goals.
I see no reason for this court to substitute its judgment for that of the elected legislative body of the City of Detroit.
I would reverse the judgment of the trial court.
T. G. Kavanagh, J., concurred with T. E. Brennan, J.