I Spoke Up for Livonia Cops, So the Anti-Police Crowd Tried to Have Me Arrested

Livonia – It’s all fun and games when a clown car full of activists fights against modern gas stations and car washes, but things get a little weird when they work to halt reinvestment in our police force.

This city has been pro-police for decades. In fact, the Livonia police have been broadly popular even during moments of cultural and political unrest, such as the 2020 Summer of Floyd, when activists descended onto City Hall, led by State Rep. Laurie Pohutsky, and denigrated and mocked the police.

But the coterie of anti-police activists only went into hibernation, lying dormant for years, and now they’re back and joining forces with nostalgic Boomers.

They’ve emerged in force, both online and in-person, spouting breathtaking anti-police rhetoric from a position of extreme ignorance. For decades they’ve walked around Livonia like they owned it, only to be confronted by their own adult children who are getting a little tired of a city stuck in 1982.

With their hair on fire, the Boomers killed off the proposed plan for a new downtown center that included new essential services buildings on the public services campus in the August 2025 primaries.

At that time, it was clear to residents the Livonia Police badly needed a new department building. Truth be told, the building was a disaster decades ago. It’s just a retrofitted water building.

The message sent to city hall by voters, in the tens of thousands of comments and replies that the city aggregated to determine how to move forward was: “Separate the police and fire and we’ll support each of them.”

Ostensibly, this indicated to city hall the broader public was at least all in on a new police building, just not a new downtown center. This response encompassed 61% of the respondent replies to the Livonia Community page.

Officials in the city, according to multiple sources inside city hall and the mayor’s office, immediately went to work doing exactly what the voters requested, prioritizing the police department as the absolute tip of the spear for the community’s quality of life.

Under that methodology, Mayor Maureen Brosnan, in conjunction with Livonia Police, devised a plan to construct a new police department on the east side of the Civic Campus. The alignment and close confines between the police and the court mirrors most Metro Detroit cities due to the obvious efficiencies of having both within walking distance.

Mayor Brosnan spoke to Michigan Enjoyer and highlighted the deficiencies with the current police building, including considerable decay, foundation erosion, water damage, and spacing issues that force female officers to use a closet as a locker room.

All of these issues lead to a poor working environment, loss of morale, and a general unprofessionalism that the police have weathered for years while providing outstanding services. The Livonia Police Department provided photographic evidence to Michigan Enjoyer visually indicating the dire conditions inside the building.

Discussion about a new police department building was announced in January by new council member Robin Persiconi, but the issue remained dormant throughout February as the nation and City of Livonia endured the national moral panic over ICE operations with local municipal police departments.

But the announcement of plans for a new building moving forward at last weeks Livonia capital-outlay meeting provided the runway for activists to fire back up. Councilman Brandon McCullough initially voted in favor of a new department building but offered an alternate plan for setting the building aside in favor of tackling the police operations millage, and here’s where the issue becomes convoluted.

Due to a small vocal minority of activists who’ve successfully derailed development and renewal in the city, certain members of the city council are gun-shy of further angering residents, specifically older residents and women who are the highest propensity voters in the city.

Nevertheless, McCullough and others who offered alternate plans inadvertently ignited a powder keg of anti-police vitriol that’s gotten out of control. Commentators on social media are posting “FTP” and proliferating nonsensical misinformation, which led to a council meeting Monday where the crazies flowed in.

Speaker after speaker either complained about the police or actively dumped on them, with two Livonia police officers quietly standing in the back of the room on duty. The room’s anti-police vibe was so intense that this journalist’s words in defense of the police were met with calls for my arrest, which spotlights an interesting irony.

Where does this issue stand? Mayor Brosnan told Enjoyer about her resolute stand for a new and improved police department. Brosnan has long been a strong supporter of investment into Livonia’s Police. Her plan includes pulling over $35 million from a capital improvement bond, $4 million from the capital improvement fund, and $6 million from an imposed tax administrative fee.

The last part is a legitimate hurdle for city residents, even for the purposes of a badly needed police station. Although a ubiquitous tool most municipalities utilize, the tax admin fee (TAF) is controversial. The notion of residents paying the city a 1% fee to tax their own residents is an offensive notion for conservatives.

However, the city’s reach for it is understandable given the current political landscape. Livonia’s cheap Boomers, lacking any forward vision for the sustainability of Livonia’s quality of life and ordered freedom for its emergent generations, would rather crawl across broken glass and hot coals than reinvest a dollar in the city.

What happens next is an even bigger mess. Many in the activist and NIMBY class can read the room. They know anti-police rhetoric is heavily frowned upon by average residents, so they reach for a litany of excuses for why a new building isn’t needed.

My personal favorite being the proposed site is a sacred wetland that must be protected at all costs. In fact, the site contains a man-made water detention pond with a man-hole designed specifically to disperse water from the area.

The matter will be going to the city council at some point in the very near future, where it could pass with a simple four-vote majority. Three yes votes ostensibly appear solid. Council President Kayleigh Reid and councilwomen Robin Persiconi and Martha Ptashnik are viewed as strongly pro-police and enjoy bipartisan support in the community.

Councilman Brandon McCullough is a strong pro-police advocate and supports the operational millage, but has voiced concerns about the proposed plan for a new building.

Councilwoman Carrie Budzinski’s opinion on the proposed plan is unknown at this time, however, she has emerged as a more pragmatic and moderate voice on the council and has been a pleasant surprise for conservatives and moderates in the past year with her votes.

Councilwoman Eileen McDonnel and Council Vice President Patrick Brockway have yet to voice their thoughts, but both receive strong support from Livonia activist classes, and sources inside city hall have assumed both are no votes.

In particular, Brockway’s positioning on such matters has invited recent concern among the Livonia police officers who gave him their union’s endorsement. Sources inside LPD have floated the notion of buyer’s remorse depending on his upcoming votes.

The second capital outlay meeting Wednesday, well attended by Livonia's legacy residents clawing with determination to keep the city ruddered in the 1980s, had a similar vibe to Monday's City Council.

According to sources at that meeting, several residents opposed to the new police station by throat clearing their overall support for local police suggesting an attempt to separate themselves from a more disliked anti-police faction in the community.

In the center of all this chaos, a prominent elected official in Livonia not associated with the city council or City Hall reached to the Michigan Enjoyer and spoke under the condition of anonymity.

"I can't help but suspect a certain member of the community hoping to one day become mayor is intentionally manipulating this situation for personal political gain,” the official said. “Emotionally discontent voters informed by All Things Livonia are easily manipulated, but that's my suspicion."

Who in this city is anti-police in 2026? Michigan Enjoyer is going to find out.