Detroit Officers Oppose Pat Downs Before Entering Prison

Detroit police and Michigan corrections officials plan to meet Tuesday to discuss a controversial policy requiring officers to be patted down before entering the state-run Detroit Detention Center, reports the Detroit News .

Police officials also are investigating two recent incidents in which officers violated the Michigan Department of Corrections policy by bringing weapons into the facility on Mound on Detroit's east side; and whether a recent slowdown in processing detainees was due to officers dragging their feet in defiance of the rule.

The detention center, formerly the Mound Correctional Facility, is where Detroit police officers take criminal suspects to await arraignment. Prior to a 2013 agreement between the state and city to house detainees in the former state prison, officers took them to precinct lockups.

While other states, including Illinois and Ohio, require municipal police to leave behind their weapons before entering corrections facilities, many don't frisk the officers — a practice that has outraged Detroit officers.

"It's a slap in the face," Assistant Chief Steve Dolunt said at a recent meeting of police officials. "We're the cops; we shouldn't have to submit to being frisked."

MDOC spokesman Chris Gautz said changes to the search policy were enacted in June, although officers may have only recently begun enforcing them. Detroit Police were not consulted on the policy change, which affected all of Corrections' facilities.