Monday the Grand Rapids Press reported that the Grand Rapids Urban League has issued a study which states that African Americans are arrested in disproportionately high numbers in Grand Rapids for "hindering and opposing" and "obstructing justice." According to Rev. Walter Brame, Urban League president and chief executive: "The numbers slap you in the face, given that I know that more than half the jail population is African American." "It should not surprise, but when you look at who the arresting police agency is, I had not expected it to be so big." The report, which analyzes Kent County Jail data from June 6 through March 3, notes that "the effect is a justice system that works against Kent County residents and creates a chilling effect for citizens who question police actions."

While the Grand Rapids Press did a competent job of reporting on this issue in the April 11 edition of the Press, the same cannot be said for the local TV news stations. Both WZZM 13 and WOOD 8 ran stories that were decidedly favorable to the GRPD, going as far as using footage provided by the GRPD of African Americans being violently apprehended by police officers. Both WZZM 13 and WOOD 8 frame their stories by focusing on the police response to the report rather than on the report itself. WOOD 8 starts their story by stating "police are under fire tonight by minority groups." The WZZM 13 story from Monday starts with the reporter saying "Grand Rapids Police reacted quickly to the report from the Urban League saying that Urban League leaders are out of touch with the real concerns of Grand Rapids area African American."

On Tuesday April 12 both WZZM 13 and WOOD 8 used the police arrest footage a second time, while WXMI 17 used it as well. Again, the perspectives provided in these news reports came primarily from the police. The WZZM 13 story on April 12 is framed almost entirely from a pro-police perspective with footage of Chief Dolan claiming that his department has been "attacked" and that city commissioners called for community leaders to come together to support the GRPD. The WZZM 13 story then plays footage of a African American man fighting a police officer in the restaurant with a voice over ominously noting that "the police chief worries that these figurative attacks (the Urban League report)could turn literal, emboldening some people to resist police more than ever." WXMI 17 also ran a story that was one-sided in favor of the police, with the reporter riding along with an officer while he patrolled the South East side. The reporter starts the report by saying "Police put their lives on the line every time they go on duty. They say the Urban League numbers don't tell the whole story and they don't look at the root of the problem." At no point in the story are any non-police perspectives provided.