Detroit Police Chief Todd Bettison personally asked activist Jahdante Smith to take down photos showing Mayor Mary Sheffield with Gayanga demolition company owner Marvin Walker, according to Smith's account of a July conversation. When Smith refused, Detroit police later confiscated his phone for several days and briefly detained him outside the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center — an encounter that happened while Smith, a 30-year-old activist and journalist, was with his young son.
A Request, Then a Detention
Smith told The Detroit News that Bettison, whom he has known for seven years, asked him in July to remove the photos, which Walker had provided to Smith and requested he post. The images show Sheffield sitting on Walker's lap and kissing his cheek, as well as a photo of her sitting on a motorcycle. Smith said Bettison also asked what the administration could do to get him to work with the administration, but Smith said he declined and kept the posts up, which he had begun sharing about a month before the paper's report published Thursday.
On August 19, Detroit police detained Smith outside the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center in downtown Detroit and confiscated his phone, though he was not arrested. Smith said he was being investigated for malicious use of a telecommunications device tied to posting electronic messages — a misdemeanor under Michigan law, MCL 750.540e, that covers using a telecommunications service or device with intent to terrorize, frighten, intimidate, threaten, harass, or annoy someone, carrying penalties of up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine. The Detroit Police Department has not confirmed why Smith was detained or what exactly he was being investigated for, and did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the paper.
Smith Alleges Deleted Messages
Smith got his phone back the same week the story broke, but he alleged that police deleted many of his messages and part of his call log while it was in their custody. He said his rights were violated by the ordeal. The Detroit Police Department has not confirmed or denied that allegation.
Sheffield's Camp Distances Her From the Conversations
Mary Sheffield's spokesperson, John Roach, said the mayor had no role in Bettison's conversations with Smith. According to Sheffield's campaign, she was not aware of those conversations until the week the story became public, and her campaign maintained that she did nothing wrong and had notified proper officials about her relationship with Walker.
Sheffield has acknowledged having a relationship with the Gayanga owner. Her campaign said she was obligated to vote on the company's contracts despite that relationship, noting she voted on dozens of Gayanga contracts during her 12 years on the Detroit City Council, including four years as council president. She was serving as council president when Bettison's appointment was approved.
The Gayanga Contracts and the 'Dirty Dirt' Scandal
The contracts at the center of the controversy are tied to Gayanga Co., the Detroit demolition firm that came under fire for allegedly backfilling demolished home sites with contaminated dirt, in deals that totaled millions of dollars. Company owner Brian McKinney shut the business down and filed a $100 million defamation lawsuit against the City of Detroit and its Inspector General in May, after the city suspended Gayanga over allegations the fill dirt contained lead, arsenic, and chromium, as Hoodline reported. McKinney has maintained the soil came from city-approved municipal sources.
The fallout has proven costly for Detroit taxpayers. City officials estimated in July that Detroit is paying an average of $36,000 per property to excavate and replace contaminated backfill at more than 100 demolition sites, with over 450 additional lots identified for remediation stemming from Gayanga's work, according to BridgeDetroit. The City Council has since approved millions in environmental consulting amendments to manage soil testing across affected neighborhoods. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has also opened an inquiry into whether contaminated soil hauled to residential demolition sites was improperly sourced from commercial redevelopment locations such as the former Northland Mall in Southfield, per reporting from Crain's Detroit Business.
Bettison's Standing Under Sheffield
Bettison was named Detroit police chief by then-Mayor Mike Duggan in February 2025, after the Detroit City Council unanimously approved his appointment. Sheffield kept Bettison on as chief after she was elected Detroit's first female mayor in fall 2025, and she publicly reappointed him in December, praising his nearly three decades of service with the department. Bettison has been credited with helping drive the city's homicide total to 165 in 2025 — its lowest annual figure in nearly six decades — a downward trend that continued into 2026 with a 15.1% year-over-year decline in homicides, as Hoodline previously reported.
Political Stakes for Smith
Smith advanced from the Green Party convention in July as a candidate for the Michigan House of Representatives District 9 seat, putting him on the November ballot as a formal political candidate rather than solely an activist or journalist, according to Ballotpedia. He has previously organized around public safety, youth services, and Detroit Land Bank property concerns. The Detroit Police Department has not commented on the case involving Smith, and it remains unconfirmed what specific investigation, if any, is ongoing regarding the deleted messages he alleges.
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