State Rep. Mike Mueller today said his budget plan for the Michigan State Police (MSP) reflects the serious leadership failures that have made the department dysfunctional and ineffective.

Mueller, R-Linden, is a retired sheriff’s deputy and now chairs the House Appropriations Subcommittee on the Michigan State Police. He said the colonel appointed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has destroyed the department and forced troopers into a position where they no longer feel supported by their own command staff.

“Governor Whitmer is the only governor in our history to appoint a colonel from the captain level, and he in turn took a lieutenant with very little supervisory experience and a history of disciplinary problems, and promoted her up several ranks to lieutenant colonel,” Mueller said. “We have two people with very little command experience who jumped up the ranks, and now the entire department is paying the price. These two have created a toxic culture. Troopers have no confidence in them, and it shows in the work they’re afraid to do.”

Recently, MSP troopers issued an overwhelming vote of no confidence in Colonel James Grady and Lieutenant Colonel Aimee Brimacombe. Of those surveyed, 98% said they do not have faith in the current leadership. Despite this, Whitmer has doubled down on her support for them.

Since Grady was promoted, troopers point to several troubling actions that show the command staff does not have their backs. Grady publicly condemned a trooper for his role in a fatal incident, despite having been involved in a critical incident himself earlier in his career. He also issued policy changes prohibiting troopers from engaging in vehicle pursuits and shifted responsibility for critical incidents from local prosecutors to the Attorney General’s office.

The result has been devastating for public safety. In 2017, before Whitmer took office, MSP conducted 435,967 traffic stops. By 2024, that number dropped to 291,976 – a 33% decline. Misdemeanor driving arrests fell even further – down 58%, from 44,795 in 2017 to just 18,776 in 2024.

“Troopers don’t want to make traffic stops anymore because they’re afraid if they make a mistake, they’ll be thrown under the bus by their own leadership,” Mueller said. “MSP brass claims crime is down, but that’s only because the numbers are cooked. The truth is, troopers are too scared to do their jobs.”

Meanwhile, favoritism and questionable spending have become routine. Grady and Brimacombe both received 5% bonuses before serving the required year in their new roles. Hundreds of vacant full-time employee positions have gone unfilled, while the dollars set aside for them have turned into a slush fund. Mueller said the colonel used this extra money to go $40,000 over budget on a conference and spend $400,000 on a public relations firm to help cover up his leadership failures.

Despite the steady decline in enforcement, the MSP budget has ballooned. In 2017-18, MSP had a $649 million budget. This year, Whitmer signed off on nearly $926 million for the department.

Mueller’s plan for the upcoming year totals about $860 million, a 7% reduction. He said no troopers will be taken off the road. Instead, the cuts eliminate 330 phantom positions and redirect resources toward other areas that will improve public safety, like the House’s Public Safety and Violence Prevention Trust Fund.

The budget will dedicate $46.3 million to ensure troopers get the pay raises recently negotiated by the trooper’s union.

The House’s Public Safety and Violence Prevention Trust Fund, included in the state’s general government budget, would invest $115 million each year in supporting local law enforcement and violence prevention efforts. Of this, $72 million would be distributed to cities, villages, and townships based on their share of violent crime over the previous three years. These funds must be used exclusively for public safety, crime investigation, or violence prevention efforts, and cannot replace existing local funding.

The plan also sets aside $40 million for county sheriff’s offices, distributed according to the size of each county’s police force. Additionally, $1.5 million would go to the Crime Victim’s Rights Fund to support victims and their families, while another $1.5 million would be available as grants for community violence intervention initiatives.

“We’re sending more resources directly to local police through our Public Safety and Violence Prevention Trust Fund,” Mueller said. “In the meantime, we have a lot of work to do to mend the relationship between MSP and our local law enforcement agencies that Col. Grady has destroyed.”