LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – After decades of fighting for equal rights and the respect of the public and other law enforcement officers, a female former Michigan law enforcement officer who contacted Michigan News Source says she is insulted over the latest publicity stunt coming out of the Michigan State Police (MSP) which included using a “Barbie” police officer in social media job recruitment posts.

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The MSP social media posts included a photo of a blonde Barbie in a police uniform with a squad car in the background and with the Barbie logo front and center. The post was a recruiting tool and said, “This Barbie is ready to serve the state of Michigan! When you join the MSP, #youcanbeanything. From a trooper to a forensic scientist, a motor carrier officer to a pilot, the possibilities are endless. Explore your future career path with the MSP today at michigan.gov/MSP Jobs.”

The social media posts on Facebook and Twitter didn’t end up staying online very long as criticism resulted in the post being deleted and replaced by an apology. A new Facebook post says, ”MSP’s social media team values the contributions of our female members and out of respect for them we have removed our previous post about Barbie.”

A female former Michigan law enforcement officer that Michigan News Source spoke with about the post, who does not wish to identified, expressed shock and disappointment with the MSP’s portrayal of a woman police officer as a Barbie. She also said that numerous enlisted female officers felt the same way. She expressed that a female police officer needs to be sensitive and understanding on the job yet tough – not a Barbie who wouldn’t be taken seriously by the public or her fellow police officers.

She said that a Barbie cop is not something that the MSP should have women aspiring to be like and that women officers don’t want to be looked at as Barbies. She added that there are no male and female police officers, only a Trooper, and that women have worked hard over the years to earn respect.

The former law enforcement officer said, “The general public has no idea the struggles that female officers have had over the years. To be treated as equal and be respected is important. It has nothing to do with women not being able to take a joke or go along with a FB post. Barbie is not who we aspire to be.”

The former law enforcement officer also asked, “Is that really the look we want for the Michigan State Police?”

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Speaking of that “look,” there’s also a problem with the uniform that MSP Barbie is wearing. First of all, she does not appear to have a weapon in her gun holster. Secondly, she is not adhering to the “Member Conduct and Authority” official order sent to department members in April of 2022. The order says, “Hair shall not extend over the shirt or coat collar when standing with head in normal posture” and “Hair shall not be worn longer than the bottom of the collar on the back of the head, and to the bottom of the earlobe on the sides.”

Also hitching a rail car to the marketing locomotive of Disney’s new Barbie movie this week was Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s office who has tweeted out a total of nine posts to date about herself being the Governor Barbie and saying, “This Barbie is getting things done for all Michiganders.”

Another post said, “This Barbie is the 49th Governor of the great state of Michigan, and just like @Barbie fuchsia is my power color. I’m committed to fighting for a state where every Michigander, no matter their background, can thrive.”

What does Whitmer think about the new Governor Barbie posts coming out of her communications team? She spoke to the New York Times and said, “When they showed me the first iteration, I thought it was absolutely hilarious.”

While Whitmer spends her time making jokes and shilling for the Barbie movie, she has completely ignored the serious child sex-trafficking movie “Sound of Freedom” even though sex trafficking is a real problem in her state and she even has a Human Trafficking Commission set up to address the issue.

The one thing that Whitmer was smart about in her social media posts about Governor Barbie, however, was not using the Barbie logo in her Twitter posts. But the Michigan State Police, the premier law enforcement agency in the state…not so much.

Did the MSP get written authorization to alter Barbie and put a state police car – and Barbie logo – in the picture in the post? An email to MSP Public Affairs Director Shannon Banner didn’t yield any comment back to us about that – and neither did our questions about who authorized the post and who gave the order to take it down. As of the posting of this article, it’s unknown how high up the organizational structure the post was approved.

Today we also learned that State Police Director Col. Joe Gasper announced his retirement after 25 years of service. He did so in a letter to department members and said that in consultation with his family, now is the right time to step down as the director and that his last day is still being determined.

The female former Michigan law enforcement officer that we spoke to about the MSP Barbie post that came out of Gasper’s police department said that many of the comments to the original post were quite sexist and said things like, “she can handcuff me any day” and “I’d like to be searched by her.”

The former officer added, “Any male officer who doesn’t see a ‘problem’ with female officers being insulted when compared to Barbie – definitely does not respect the role women have in modern day policing! Male counterparts should equally be insulted too. Are they all just Ken dolls? Is this really a ‘recruiting/marketing’ tool for the next generation female Trooper? If it is, heaven help the MSP.”