Zero for Five Years: Every Single Grievance Filed Against Kalamazoo's FOC Has Been Denied or Dismissed Since 2020

Not one complaint acknowledged. Not one policy changed. Not one employee disciplined. The FOC reviews itself and finds nothing wrong. Every time.

KALAMAZOO, Mich., March 31, 2026 — The State of Michigan requires every Friend of the Court office to maintain a grievance process. Citizens are told this is their remedy. File a grievance. The FOC will review it. The process is established under MCL 552.526. It is the law.

In Kalamazoo County, this process has produced the same result every time it has been used. Nothing. From 2020 through 2024, every grievance filed was either denied or classified as nongrievable. No complaint was acknowledged in full. No complaint was acknowledged in part. No office policy was changed. No employee faced any consequence.

The state tells citizens to use this process. The state's own data shows it has never worked in Kalamazoo County. Not once in five years.

Statewide, the grievance denial rate is 72.4 percent. That number is already high. Kalamazoo County is at 100 percent.

There is no Citizen Advisory Committee in Kalamazoo County to provide independent oversight. The FOC reviews its own complaints. It is the investigator, the judge, and the jury. The data shows what happens when the same office fills all three roles.

A citizen who has a problem with the Friend of the Court in Kalamazoo County has been told by the state to use a process that has never produced a result. That is not an accusation. That is what the state's own annual reports say.

“The state created the process. The state published the data showing it does not work. The state still tells citizens to use it.,” stated Kalamazoo Transparency Act.