For many years, Captain Monica Yesh was a fixture in Metro Detroit. A leader representing state police. Now she’s responding to an internal affairs investigation and a newer assignment in Lansing.
Back in April of 2017, Captain Yesh told 7 Action News “Whether they’re black, white, Hispanic or Asian, we want our agency to look like the communities we serve” in reference to improving recruiting for state police.
Now, we’ve confirmed she’s being looked at by internal affairs after receiving free Detroit Tigers tickets from the owner of Area Towing & Recovery in Taylor.
In part of a statement today, Yesh denied accepting anything in exchange for special treatment and added:
“Shane Anders from Area Towing is a personal friend and Mr. Anders did provide me and other MSP members sporting event tickets. Both myself and the other MSP members were counselled regarding accepting event tickets from a towing company on the no-preference wrecker list. The event tickets provided had no bearing on whether a towing company was placed on the no-preference list as the process involves objective criteria.”
We asked retired state police inspector Ellis Stafford for his take on the investigation. “Are you in a position where you can otherwise extend something that a person wouldn’t get? If the answer is yes it doesn’t pass the smell test. If that’s just a friend and you guys got a relationship outside of work that’s fine” says Stafford.
State Police also released a statement today saying “It's important to note that these are merely allegations, and that none of them (with the exception of accepting sporting event tickets) have been proven to be true. The investigation is not complete yet, but should be wrapped up very soon.”
Yesh remains a vocal supporter of increasing diversity recruiting within state police.
State police say her transfer to Lansing last December to oversee all recruiting was not a result of an internal review. Instead, a spokesperson says she was “Chosen for this position due to her success in developing the women's recruiting seminars in metro Detroit, and her desire to work to diversify our trooper applicant pool.” State police say their internal investigation should be over soon.
