East Lansing's police oversight commission flagged a major gap in the department's transparency efforts at its Aug. 5 meeting: the fatal officer-involved shooting of MSU senior Isaiah Kirby never appeared in ELPD's April 2026 use-of-force reports.

Commissioner Chris Root raised the omission at the East Lansing Independent Police Oversight Commission meeting, reported The State News. Kirby, 21, of Owings, Maryland, was shot and killed by East Lansing police on April 15 near the intersection of Abbot and Lake Lansing roads after officers responded to a stabbing.

ELPD Captain Adrian Ojerio attributed the omission to a system gap, according to The State News's account of the meeting. He told commissioners he believes the shooting was not flagged because Michigan State Police took over the investigation and ELPD was classified as the assisting agency, meaning no Reportable Crime Record use-of-force flag was generated automatically.

That wasn't the only missing information. The race and gender of officers involved were also left out of both the April and May 2026 reports.

The gaps compound a broader pattern of data problems the commission has encountered. ELIPOC hired consultant Cedric Heroux to analyze ELPD's 2025 use-of-force reports after requesting access since January 2026. ELPD delivered the data on June 4, but at a June 17 sub-committee meeting, Heroux identified at least four different formats the department used to record the information.

Root also told commissioners, per The State News, she is alarmed by a draft revision of ELPD's use-of-force policy that removes "sanctity of human life" language the commission recommended in 2023.

"I'm very concerned that, in my view, the revision is taking the use of force policy backwards," Root said at the Aug. 5 meeting, according to The State News. "Adding sanctity of life was one of the very few recommendations that we made in 2023 that the department accepted, and now it's being taken out."

The removed language included a definition referencing equity for people of color and other potentially vulnerable groups. ELPD Chief Jen Brown said two city attorneys, including Holly Battersby, who specializes in police civil rights matters, are reviewing the draft. Brown said she personally supports the sanctity-of-life principle.

Meanwhile, commissioners remain unable to view body-worn camera footage remotely. Since May 2024, when then-Interim Police Chief Chad Pride imposed the change on his first day in the role, commissioners must travel to the police department or City Hall to watch footage. Root said the arrangement is impractical for volunteer commissioners reviewing hours of video, particularly when the viewing location is the department they oversee.

A meeting to resolve the footage-access dispute had been scheduled for April 15, the same day as the Kirby shooting, and was canceled. Subsequent attempts to reschedule stalled after City Manager Robert Belleman's departure. The commission plans to raise the issue with Chief Brown at its September meeting.

According to The State News, the commission's policy sub-committee is next scheduled to meet Thursday, Aug. 20, to discuss the use-of-force and trespassing policies. The Michigan Attorney General's office investigation into the Kirby shooting remains ongoing.