by P.D. Lesko

A disgruntled AAPD officer alleged in a 2020 email to Council members that was released to The Ann Arbor Independent as the result of a Freedom of Information Act request, that Ann Arbor Police Chief Michael Cox “cost people their jobs,” when he enquired about a speeding ticket issued to his wife by a Michigan State Police officer in the early-morning hours of November 23, 2020. The writer of the email claimed that Michigan State Police command officers were disciplined for fixing the speeding ticket, and lost their jobs. While there is no proof that any Michigan State Police employees were disciplined or fired in connection with the incident, public records released by the Michigan State Police show that a speeding ticket issued to Kimberly Cox was, indeed, “voided” as a “professional courtesy” extended to her husband.

When asked via email to comment about the incident, Cox did not reply.

In February of 2020, Cox was placed on a two-week administrative leave by then City Administrator Howard Lazarus. Lazarus initially refused to tell City Council members why he’d placed Cox on leave. It subsequently came out that the reason was Cox’s involvement in an investigation into parking ticket fixing. Parking officials within the AAPD were accused of improperly voiding tickets. A lieutenant was charged with investigating an Oct. 29, 2019 complaint that a parking officer helped his girlfriend, a city employee, not pay for parking outside City Hall. The parking officer had asked other officers to void his girlfriend’s tickets, leading to a complaint to their supervisor.

On October 8, 2021, former Ward 4 Council member Jack Eaton spoke to 1290 WLBY talk radio host Lucy Anne Lance. When the conversation turned to Cox’s administrative leave, Eaton said, “We learned there was an investigation into parking ticket fixing, and apparently that is a long-term problem with the City.” Eaton went on to say, “The Chief came in as a reformer. He has big policy issues on his platter. At some point in time he said to his subordinates, ‘Really, we’re spending all this time on parking tickets?’ And they took offense at that.”

According to an outside investigation conducted by Miller Canfield, “A police lieutenant conducted two separate investigations into parking officials dismissing tickets, including a supervisor who ordered a parking officer to void a ticket outside of city policy.” Cox was accused of trying to sway the lieutenant’s investigation toward a result that didn’t lead to discipline towards the supervisor involved in the ticketing fixing. “[T]here is ample evidence that the Chief’s comments appeared to attempt to convince people not to conduct an investigation into a supervisor, to excuse conduct in clear violation of policies, and to convince an investigator not to conclude that a supervisor was lying.”

Cox issued a statement about his suspension: “Leadership requires trust with a strong understanding of procedural justice. Respectfully, suspending the Chief of Police over these allegations, before I had a chance to respond, undermines that trust and unfairly calls into question my leadership.”

Nine months after the parking ticket fixing investigation, according to public records released by the Michigan State Police, at 6:06 a.m. on November 23, 2020, Kimberly Cox, the wife of Ann Arbor Police Chief Michael Cox, was clocked going 96 miles per hour on a west bound stretch of I-96 that runs past Howell, Michigan. Michigan State Police officer Kirk Smith issued a ticket to Cox for going 11-15 miles per hour over the speed limit, a civil infraction. The ticket was subsequently voided as a “professional courtesy,” according to an official from the Michigan State Police.

According to State Police officials, Ann Arbor’s Chief of Police called the Howell State Police post and enquired about the ticket. Cox was told that the ticket would be voided, and he allowed the State Police to extend to him that “professional courtesy.”

Public records show that there was no fine paid. The civil infraction charge wasn’t referred to the Livingston County Prosecutor. Kimberly Cox, according to public records, did not contest the ticket in writing, or by appearing before a 53rd District Court judge.

According to Michigan law, at a speed of 96 miles per hour, Cox was clocked at 16 miles per hour above the speed limit for the stretch of highway on which she was driving. A ticket for driving 16 miles over the speed limit in Livingston County would have resulted in a $170 fine, and four points on Cox’s driver’s license. The officer, in writing the ticket for 11-15 miles per hour over the speed limit, reduced the fine to $155 and three points of Cox’s license. In addition to the fine and points, a speeding ticket will result in increased auto insurance rates for up to three years, a penalty that can cost a driver thousands of dollars.

An op-ed in the L.A. Times about ticket fixing was unequivocal: “Dismissing tickets purely as a favor to a friend, crony or high-ranking official is nothing but corruption. Not only does it cheat municipalities out of legitimate revenue and allow people who broke the rules — often safety rules — to go unpunished, but it means that the law is applied unequally.”

Bennett L. Gershman is a professor of law at Pace University. He has written that “ticket fixing isn’t a ‘professional courtesy,’ it’s racketeering.”

Chief Cox was named the Chief of the Boston Police Department on July 13, 2022.