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What is CLEMIS? The Michigan law enforcement data program, explained

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What is CLEMIS? The Michigan law enforcement data program, explained


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  • The entity consolidates and provides a slew of critical information to more than 250 law enforcement agencies, fire departments and courts.
  • One of its essential functions is a search tool for law enforcement. Similar to Google, an inquiry on a name or address can yield vital details for law enforcement.
  • The entity was created as a part of Oakland County government years ago, but recently spun off as an independent, quasi-public agency.

For roughly 60 years, an increasing number of law enforcement and other agencies throughout metro Detroit have relied on a specific data collaboration tool: the Courts and Law Enforcement Management Information System, more frequently referred to as CLEMIS.

The name is a bit of a mouthful, and the organization itself deploys a fair amount of jargon to describe its function. But at its core, it’s a search system that currently helps more than 250 agencies in the region work together to serve their various law enforcement or broader public service missions.

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Typically, elected officials and the agencies that use the system applaud it. But it is not without a bit of controversy, unearned or otherwise. And it’s going through arguably the biggest change in program history, spinning off from the county government where it was founded to become its own, semipublic agency.

What does that matter, and why should you care? Great questions − we try to answer them here.

What is CLEMIS?

Until very recently, it was a function of Oakland County government. It’s an organization overseeing a group of public agencies working together to share information. Drilling down a bit more, it is various technology options typically used by law enforcement or comparable groups to find, record, track and analyze information.

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It’s modeled on the state Law Enforcement Information Network system, called LEIN. When a Michigan State Police trooper pulls you over and “runs” your information through their system, chances are they are using LEIN.

CLEMIS goes beyond what members can find in LEIN: If police interviewed someone, ran their license plate or otherwise interacted with them and recorded that information, an officer can use CLEMIS to find that information.

It’s an investigative building block. According to a 2022 CLEMIS presentation created to describe the program, “CLEMIS provides public safety agencies immediate access to critical information during day-to-day operations and at a time of crisis.”

The system is billed to work just like an internet search tool: Think Google or Yahoo. An officer for a member agency can search using a slew of categories, including:

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  • Names
  • Property
  • Addresses
  • Arrests (mugshots displayed)
  • Businesses
  • Crime Incidents
  • Identifiers
  • Aliases

CLEMIS draws from not only information entered by its own members, but also from Michigan Secretary of State driving records and images, the Michigan Department of Corrections inmate database, FBI criminal and stolen property records, local police databases and LEIN.

“CLEMIS hosts, updates, and maintains the central system allowing police agencies to focus on criminal justice,” the 2022 presentation states.

Who uses CLEMIS, and why?

In general, many law enforcement, fire departments and court systems in southeast Michigan use CLEMIS.

Roughly 130 police departments and county sheriff’s offices throughout metro Detroit are members, according to a list on the Oakland County government CLEMIS website. The Detroit Police Department is not a member, but there are an array of agencies from Wayne, Macomb, Oakland, Washtenaw and other counties, including:

  • Ann Arbor Police
  • Berkley Public Safety
  • Clawson Police
  • Dearborn City Police
  • Grand Blanc Township Police
  • Hamtramck Police
  • Huntington Woods Public Safety
  • Port Huron Police
  • Romulus Police
  • Ypsilanti Police

Sheriff’s offices in Huron, Lapeer, Lenawee, Oakland, Saint Clair and Washtenaw counties are also members, according to the same list.

Agencies policing institutions of higher education are also members, including University of Michigan Public Safety.

More than 50 fire departments are also CLEMIS members. While they do not have access to the same criminal data available to police, they can use CLEMIS for fire and EMS incident reports, personnel records management, training and more.

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Member agencies include departments in Auburn Hills, Farmington Hills, Livonia, Royal Oak, South Lion and the Wayne County Airport Authority.

Nearly 50 Michigan court systems use CLEMIS, according to the Oakland County website. There are various applications offered by CLEMIS that might be useful for district court employees, ranging from access to encounters that may be relevant for probation departments to “legible tickets with immediate access in an electronic database,” according to the 2022 CLEMIS presentation.

The 6th Circuit Court in Pontiac, the main circuit court for Oakland County, is a member, as are district courts from Warren to Southfield.

Lastly, a handful of other agencies have access to CLEMIS. That includes the Michigan State Police, the FBI, U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and federal probation officers working with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.

Who controls CLEMIS?

In recent months, after years of work, CLEMIS formally left the county and became a public authority. That essentially means a semipublic, standalone agency that is currently pursuing tax-exempt status.

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It posts agendas and minutes, is subject to the Freedom of Information Act and publicly provides details about its funding and contracts.

“This new authority is now focused on standing up a new organization, transferring assets from the county and building new systems that will help us provide transparent, accountable and affordable services for current and new communities for the next 60 years,” reads a statement a PR firm working for CLEMIS provided to the Detroit Free Press.

“The current timeframe is to have this transition completed by September 30, 2026. Currently, CLEMIS services are being provided by existing county employees through user agreements with Oakland County.”

Why is CLEMIS controversial?

Not everyone within Oakland County government wanted CLEMIS to become its own authority, arguing doing so would obviously lead to less control of the organization.

In the months leading up to the spin-off, the county announced a whistleblower informed the administration of County Executive Dave Coulter that a company run by a county employee was awarded a six-figure contract to help with IT services for CLEMIS.

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While the company never received any of the money, a subsequent county investigation revealed the awarding of the contract violated state law and county policy. Two county employees resigned, two were suspended and a county commissioner filed a report with law enforcement.

In December, a spokesman for the Michigan State Police told the Free Press the agency reviewed the complaint and “found nothing to investigate.”

More recently, critics noted ICE, the federal agency leading President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, has access to CLEMIS, including data from agencies or cities that purport not to assist with federal immigration efforts.

A Coulter spokesman said the county will not renew its contract for ICE to access CLEMIS when it expires at the end of March. Oakland County Commission Chairman Dave Woodward, who also sits on the new CLEMIS executive committee, also said he would not vote to approve any similar deal between ICE and the authority in the future.

How is CLEMIS funded?

Members pay a fee for every officer in their agency. In 2025, Bo Cheng − then a private consultant for CLEMIS while it was still under Oakland County and now its executive director after it became a separate authority − told the publication Government Technology it planned to charge each member agency $500 per officer.

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Additionally, Oakland County government approved sending the new CLEMIS Authority $10 million when it formally spun off to become its own entity. Recently, the authority also voted, in part, to “maintain the current 5% annual increase to membership fees.”

What’s the big deal about CLEMIS?

It’s a massive, publicly funded data-sharing system that allows metro Detroit law enforcement and some other agencies to access private and critical details about scores of people. And it wants to grow.

While the the authority serves about 250 agencies now, a key leader last year told the publication Government Technology he wants CLEMIS to serve 2,000 agencies in 10 states by 2030.

That’s not happening yet, though: in a statement to the Free Press, the PR firm hired by the CLEMIS Authority said the organization, “is in the formative stages, and we are not currently able to receive users or add members, including law enforcement agencies at this time. We look forward to providing updates in the months ahead as we launch our new, independent authority consistent with good government practices that promote transparency and accountability for taxpayers.”

Reach Dave Boucher at dboucher@freepress.com.

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Michigan man didn’t turn right on red. So another driver hit him with ax, police say

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Michigan man didn’t turn right on red. So another driver hit him with ax, police say


70-year-old man arrested, faces assault charge

Caution tape with police lights (KSAT 12 News)

GRAND TRAVERSE COUNTY, Mich. – A Michigan man was struck with an ax after not turning right at a red light at an intersection on Tuesday, according to police.

Just before 2 p.m. on April 14, a 74-year-old man driving near the intersection of Woodmere and Hannah in Grand Traverse County sat through a red light instead of turning right, Local 4’s NBC affiliate in Traverse City reported.

Police said a 70-year-old Traverse City man was in a car behind the 74-year-old man and followed him to the Traverse Area District Library,

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Once the 74-year-old man got out of his car, the 70-year-old man allegedly approached him and attacked him with an ax, injuring the 74-year-old in his left upper arm. Both men then left the area.

The 74-year-old man drove himself to a local hospital and is being treated for his non-life-threatening injuries.

The 70-year-old man was later arrested at his home and faces a charge of assault to do great bodily harm.




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What we know about the tornadoes that hit southeast Michigan overnight

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What we know about the tornadoes that hit southeast Michigan overnight


Cleanup continued Wednesday after overnight storms spawned two EF-1 tornadoes in Southeast Michigan, toppling trees, damaging homes and businesses in Downriver communities, and leaving some neighborhoods without power for hours.

The National Weather Service confirmed one tornado tracked through the Ann Arbor area in Washtenaw County around 1:44 a.m. near Jackson Avenue and Interstate 94.

A second tornado touched down near the Allen Park and Lincoln Park border in Wayne County around 2:14 a.m.

In Garden City, strong winds snapped a large tree and brought down power lines, briefly sparking a small grass fire, resident Susan Steffke said.

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“I got an alert to take cover, and I got up and split second, it was raining and thundering and lightning,” Steffke said.

Steffke said the fallen tree blocked a side street, and wires hung into her backyard.

“The tree totally was across the side street, and I had wires in my backyard, hanging down, and the telephone pole got split in half, and the top half was laying on the sidewalk,” Steffke said.

Neighbors nearby were without power for hours after the storm, said Garden City resident Julie Feinthel, who said electricity went out around 3 a.m. and returned just before 4:30 p.m.

“DTE was working around the clock to get it back up,” Feinthel said.

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In Downriver, the Wayne County tornado crossed Dix Highway into Melvindale, the weather service said, snapping trees and causing damage that included roofs, windows, and HVAC equipment.

The storms also brought heavy rain and flooding, submerging flood-prone stretches of Gibraltar in southern Wayne County.

Bayview Drive in Gibraltar was closed as crews set up an additional pump to help drain standing water, officials said.

“Not much you can do, hopefully they pump it out or what have you, but it’s the first time the street’s been blocked,” said Gibraltar resident Gary Gagne.

No deaths or injuries were reported in connection with either tornado, according to the National Weather Service.

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Thunderstorms rip across Michigan damaging 2 ice arenas, other structures

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Thunderstorms rip across Michigan damaging 2 ice arenas, other structures


ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Powerful storms ripped through parts of Michigan overnight Tuesday into Wednesday morning, damaging two ice arenas and other structures, and uprooting trees near the University of Michigan’s main campus.

National Weather Service crews were surveying damage in places including Ann Arbor to determine if one or more tornadoes touched down, but none had been confirmed as of Wednesday morning. Instead, the damage appears to have been caused by a line of thunderstorms that moved into Michigan from Iowa, Wisconsin and Illinois, meteorologist Sara Schultz said.

A 70 mph (112.6 kph) wind gust was reported at 1:49 a.m. Wednesday at the university’s football stadium, while gusts of 69 mph (111 kph) and 62 mph (99.7 kph) were reported at Willow Run Airport and Detroit Metropolitan Airport, Schultz said, and another round of strong storms with potentially damaging winds was moving into the area Wednesday from states to the West.

Streets and neighborhoods in many southeastern Michigan communities also were left flooded Wednesday.

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Some public school buildings in Ann Arbor suffered structural damage and many lost power. “Safe passage for walkers and buses is compromised across much of the city due to downed power lines, flooding, water main breaks, gas leaks, and felled trees and debris,” the district said Wednesday on its Facebook page.

District schools and offices were closed Wednesday due to what officials say is a fiber outage impacting fire, phone and camera systems, and building access. It wasn’t immediately clear if the fiber outage is related to the storm.

Ann Arbor Mayor Christopher Taylor said structural engineers were assessing damage to a wall at the city’s Veterans Memorial Park Ice Arena. Part of the roof was torn from the university’s Yost Ice Arena.

A wall, torn off of the Veterans Memorial Ice Rink following a severe storm, is seen Wednesday, April 15, 2026, in Ann Arbor, Mich. Credit: AP/Mike Householder

Two blocks from where utility workers were dealing with the twisted pieces of metal littering the ground outside Yost, Seungjun Lee was feeling fortunate. A hulking tree outside the rented home he shares with six others barely missed his upstairs bedroom when the storm uprooted it.

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“If the tree fell down a couple more feet, I would not be standing here,” said Lee, a 20-year-old junior at U-M. “I’d be in the hospital. So, I’m feeling very lucky that … the roof stopped it.”

Lee and his roommates were awakened by a siren, then an alert blasted from their phones between 1 a.m. and 2 a.m., urging them to take shelter.

“As soon as I came out, everyone else was coming out of their rooms and everyone’s like, ‘What’s going on? This is crazy,’” said Lee, of Ridgewood, New Jersey. “And then we looked out the window: This tree just fell down. So, we’re like, ‘Oh, crap.’”

Storm damage is seen at the Argus Building in Ann...

Storm damage is seen at the Argus Building in Ann Arbor, Mich., on Wednesday, April 15. 2026. Credit: AP/Jordyn Pair

A friend across the street then walked over to check in.

“He was like, ‘Did you hear about Yost?’ We went, ‘No.’ We were worried about our house. So, we walked over and we checked it out and we were like, ‘That’s crazy,’” said Sam Zaruba, a 20-year-old junior from Grand Rapids, Michigan.

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As for classes on Wednesday, Zaruba said he’s not going. But roommate Gautam Nigam, a 21-year-old junior, also from Grand Rapids, has to.

“I have a final presentation later today,” he said.

The storms dumped as much as 2.5 inches (6.3 cms) of rain across parts of southeastern Michigan, bringing flood watches to a big chunk of the eastern Lower Peninsula, southeastern Michigan, northern Indiana and northwestern Ohio.

An evacuation notice was issued late Tuesday to low areas in northeastern Michigan’s Cheboygan County following a levee breach in the Little Black River watershed. The breach, in an area northwest of Cheboygan and west of Lake Huron, is not related to efforts to force flow from the Cheboygan Dam toward the lake as water continues rising following days of rainfall and winter snow melt, the county’s emergency management office said on its Facebook page.



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