Federal monitor of Detroit police resigns; judge cites ties to ex-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick

Detroit police monitor linked to Kilpatrick quits

DETROIT — A federal judge on Friday accepted the resignation of a court-appointed Detroit Police Department monitor, saying the monitor had inappropriate contact with ex-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick that included personal meetings and discussions about the department.

Sheryl Robinson Wood resigned Thursday, the Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News reported.

In a Friday order accepting the resignation, U.S. District Judge Julian Cook said Wood had “meetings of a personal nature” with Kilpatrick, who resigned in September after pleading guilty to obstruction of justice and assault.

The judge said Wood also improperly discussed with Kilpatrick the city’s consent agreements with the U.S. Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division to reform police use of force and prisoner treatment. The agreements were reached in 2003, when Kilpatrick was mayor.

Cook, who is overseeing the consent decree, said Wood had “engaged in conduct which was totally inconsistent with the terms and conditions of the two consent judgments in this litigation.”

That included “inappropriate discussions with (Kilpatrick) about this lawsuit,” Cook said.

Wood works for the global risk-management outfit Kroll Inc., whose Web site says it monitors both the Detroit and Los Angeles police departments. Calls to Kroll were not answered after business hours Friday and a call to Wood’s personal cell phone went unanswered.

The judge said he asked Wood about her ability to remain effective as monitor after he reviewed documents during a July 22 status conference in the case.

Cook’s order did not specify what documents he saw or where they came from and did not elaborate on the “personal nature” of the relationship between Wood and Kilpatrick.

The order suspended all court monitoring of the department and set a July 31 deadline for the city and Justice Department to submit names of prospective replacements.

“We agree with the court’s decision and will move forward in a positive manner to select a new monitor,” Alejandro Miyar, a Justice Department spokesman in Washington, told the Free Press.

Cook said last week that the city and police department have met only 39 percent of provisions in the consent decrees and were making “grossly inadequate” progress in correcting the abuses that brought the department under federal supervision.

A statement from Detroit Mayor Dave Bing’s office called Wood’s resignation “appropriate.”

“We will work with the Justice Department in selecting a new monitor, and remain dedicated to fulfilling the requirements of the consent decrees,” the statement said.