(WWJ) Drivers along a stretch of Telegraph Road in Detroit will see a billboard accusing Livonia police of racism.
The electronic board, near I-96, reads in a simple white font on a black background: "Driving While Black? Racial Profiling Just Ahead. Welcome To Livonia."
The message is refuted by the city's mayor, as well as Livonia police Chief Curtis Caid, who called it troubling... and sad.
The chief maintains that officers in the Livonia PD protect and serve the public without prejudice.
"This billboard, the message that it sends just creates a divide for our officers as they continue to provide that service, and will make their job much more difficult," Caid told WWJ Newsradio 950's Jon Hewett. "It does not send a message of unity at all, and that is what we're about a a community. And so it's very difficult, very troubling, and we don't have any choice but to cope with it."
Hewett reports the billboard was paid for by a group called "Livonia Citizens Caring About Black Lives," which has been seeking arrest data from the police department.
"For whatever reason they reached a conclusion that this was the best avenue for them, and that's unfortunate," Caid added. "Because, again, it's just I think that this creates a level of divide that does not need to be there."
This comes amid heightened racial tensions between police and Black people following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, and ongoing Black Lives Matter demonstrations nationwide.
While actions are being taken to reform policing in Michigan and other states, BLM protesters in some cities have called for the defunding and dismantling of police departments.