Police Chief

Police Chief Travis Grimm

The City of Belle Isle is a beautiful place to live and work. Every employee of the Belle Isle Police Department is committed to unwavering integrity and professional service to the community. Each employee brings value to the City. Together, we are committed to working in partnership with the community to enhance and protect the residents of Belle Isle's quality of life. I encourage every citizen to do their part by contacting us to report any suspicious activity. If you "See Something, Say Something."

Biased Based Policing

The Belle Isle  Police Department is committed to this belief and strives to ensure unbiased policing in all encounters between officers and citizens.  ​Regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion, economic status, background, age, or culture, every citizen deserves the highest level of service and equal treatment under the law.

Bias-based policing occurs when an officer makes decisions or takes police action based on his or her own personal or societal biases or stereotypes, rather than relying on facts and observed behaviors that would lead the officer to believe that an individual has been, is currently, or is about to be involved in criminal activity.

Many citizens mistakenly believe that profiling is illegal and that police officers are forbidden from using such a practice. The truth is that criminal profiling is legal and is a legitimate technique used daily in law enforcement. On the other hand, Bias-based profiling is illegal and has no legitimate use in solving or preventing crime. So what's the difference between the two?

Criminal profiling uses legitimate law enforcement knowledge, training, and experience to narrow a field of suspects during a criminal investigation. Factual information, patterns of activity, and motives are considered when using criminal profiling to develop a suspect.

Bias-based profiling uses race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion, economic status, background, age, or culture as the sole basis for police activity. The absence of facts, suspicious activity, or specific criminal information separates bias-based profiling from legitimate criminal profiling.

It is important to realize that police officers must sometimes consider a person's race, age, gender, religion, and other factors when preparing a criminal profile. It may be a necessary part of determining who would have had a motive or the capability of committing an alleged crime. Routinely we determine a possible type of suspect in a series of crimes by first scrutinizing the case's facts, then further narrowing our search by considering factors such as race, ethnicity, gender, etc. The key element is that the investigative outcome is based on facts and knowledge, not personal attributes or societal biases.

Bias-based policing invites distrust from the public, intense media scrutiny, and the possibility of legal action against the Department for constitutional and civil rights violations. We use every legitimate law enforcement technique, including criminal profiling, to preserve the safety of everyone we serve. Still, acts of bias-based policing are discriminatory acts that will not be tolerated.