27-03-2025
Could the upcoming documentary help build trust in GRPD?
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A new documentary series set to start airing in just under two weeks will show viewers the inner workings of the Grand Rapids Police Department.
The documentary's trailer touts it as an effort to increase transparency and trust and give the public 'unprecedented access.' It's called 'All Access PD: Grand Rapids.'
New documentary series goes inside GRPD with 'total transparency'
In his first three years as the head of the department, Chief Eric Winstrom says the department looks a lot different than it did when he arrived.
'When I moved here two years ago from Chicago, trust was at an all-time low. I knew that I had to break down the walls,' Winstrom said in the trailer.
He began his tenure at a time when civil unrest and police distrust had reached their breaking point.
'It wasn't a matter of building trust. I am going to act like this is ground floor,' Winstrom said in an interview with News 8 Wednesday.
Story from 2022: New GRPD chief on transparency, community trust
His efforts to do so are soon going to be on display in the documentary, which in its trailer promises 'the most access a documentary team has had to a police department.'
The production team followed officers for 100 days to get a glimpse of the day-to-day operations. Winstrom said GRPD did not pay for the documentary or receive money for it. He said nothing was left out.
'This show is not about making the police department look good,' he told News 8. 'Knowing the cases that they follow, I think there is enough gray in there that you are going to be able to see that humans are not perfect, including police.'
Since his tenure began, Winstrom said he has been focused on recruiting and improving trust and culture in the department and the city.
'How am I going to build trust? I am going to do the right thing tomorrow and the next day and the next day, and I am going to keep doing it for as long as I am here,' he said.
But for some, the trust has not improved. Cle Jackson, the president of the Greater Grand Rapids Branch of the NAACP, told News 8 that while trust has not gotten worse, it has not necessarily gotten better.
'That trust level from our vantage point is kind of the same,' he said. 'I don't speak for the entire Black community — no one should. I am going to speak from a NAACP perspective in terms of some of the complaints we have received on a daily basis. Their trust is not at an all-time high. It's just not.'
Marian Barrera-Young, executive director of the Baxter Neighborhood Association, told News 8 that the documentary will help promote conversation between the department and the community.
'I hope people start talking, asking questions, start wanting meetings where we can pull the police back out and talk about the documentary,' Barrera-Young said. 'It's a conversation piece and I think that's good. It gets them more involved.'
Winstrom said he hopes the documentary will serve as a stepping stone to increasing trust in the community.
'I hope that as an entire city we have been moving in the right direction for the past three-plus years, and I think we are heading in the right direction. I think there is a real opportunity that this documentary helps us get there,' he said.
Episodes will air weekly on Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET on ID and stream the next day on Max. The first episode will be released on April 8.
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