Credit City of Grand Rapids
Grand Rapids police chief Eric Payne plans to retire next year, after two years of leading the department.
Payne first joined GRPD in 1987. He took over as the department’s first Black police chief in the summer of 2019, promising there would be changes.
By 2020, the calls for change amplified nationwide after the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis and the killing of Breonna Taylor. On May 30 last year, a daytime peaceful protest against police in Grand Rapids gave way to a night of mayhem and looting downtown.
The city, and Payne, promised reforms at the department.