By Joanne Bailey-Boorsma WKTV Managing Editor joanne@wktv.org
The Wyoming Department of Public Safety is investigating two unrelated shootings that took place on Tuesday, Nov. 1 and providing some words of caution to residents.
The first incident took place at around 2:50 p.m in the 2200 block of Indian Mounds Drive SW.
An 18-year-old male on a bicycle was struck by gunfire resulting in a fatal injury. The male was deceased at the scene. The victim of this shooting has been identified as Kane Allen Coronado of White Cloud.
A vehicle was seen leaving the area immediately after the shooting and was described as a light-colored sedan with an unknown number of occupants. The vehicle was last seen traveling east on Indian Mounds Drive.
Investigators are working to determine the circumstances surrounding the shooting. According to a statement from the department, the department is appealing to the public to provide information regarding this case. Anyone who was in the area of Indian Mounds Drive on Nov. 1 between the hours of 2 and 3 p.m. is asked to contact the Wyoming Department of Public Safety at 616-530-7300 or Silent Observer at 616-774-2345 or 1-866-774-2345.
Tips for those who are walking or riding
As a reminder to residents, Lt. Rory Allen, spokesperson for the department, said the department recommends that citizens take precautions when utilizing recreational areas such as bike paths and walking trails.
If possible, residents should not travel alone when walking, jogging, or bike riding. Residents should be aware of their surroundings and who is around them. They also should a phone with them to call for help or see anything that is suspicious or feels unsafe. Always call 911 in those incidents.
Shooting on Division Avenue
A 7:15 p.m. on the same day of Nov. 1, officers from the Wyoming Department of Public Safety responded to a hold-up alarm at 3530 S. Division Ave. A short time later officers responded to a report that a 15-year-old male with a gunshot wound had been located near the business in questions.
The investigation indicates that the individual with the gunshot wound arrived at 3530 South Division Avenue with two other individuals. It is believed that they arrived in the Ford Fusion that was stolen out of Grand Rapids earlier in the evening.
According the police report, these three individuals were involved in, what was reported to police as, a take-over robbery attempt at that location. The three suspects entered the business with masks covering their faces and surrounded the employee. A fight between the three suspects and the employee broke out and the employee fired one shot from a handgun that he legally had on his person.
All three suspects fled the store after the shooting. The 15-year-old is believed to be the only one who was injured during this incident. He was located a short distance away from the business and was transported to a local hospital for treatment. He is currently in serious condition. The other two robbery suspects fled the area on foot and have not been located yet. The stolen Ford Fusion was recovered at the scene.
Officers have clues to the other two suspects
Officers are still looking for the two other suspects. One is described as wearing a blue sweatshirt with a hood up, black sweatpants, and a mask covering his face. The second suspect is described as wearing a multi-colored zip-up sweatshirt with a red shirt underneath, black pants, and black shoes. Information located inside the recovered vehicle has provided leads regarding the suspects’ identities. These leads are being pursued by investigators. In the meantime, these individuals are encouraged to turn themselves in to the Wyoming Police.
Once this investigation is complete, the Kent County prosecutor’s office will review all of the circumstances in this case, including a review of the employee’s action in shooting the individual who was robbing his store.
Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to contact Wyoming Police at 616-530-7300 or Silent Observer at 616-774-2345 or 1-866-774-2345.
Kentwood’s Drug Take Back Day event will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday. (WKTV)
The fall National Drug Take Back Day has been set for this Saturday, Oct. 29, with both the Wyoming Department of Public Safety and the Kentwood Police Department participating in the event.
The annual event is part of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s National Prescription Drug Take Back initiative. The event is held in April and October as part of ongoing efforts to combat prescription drug misuse and overdose deaths. For the April Take Back Day, the Department of Drug Enforcement reported that about 720,000 pounds of unneeded medications were collected. Since starting the program in 2010, around 16 million pounds of unneeded prescription medications have been collected.
“By taking advantage of this free and anonymous Drug Take Back Day, residents can help save lives,” said Kentwood Police Chief Bryan Litwin. “Proper medication disposal prevents identity theft, accidental poisonings, drug addiction and overdose deaths. It can also help preserve the environment by reducing the amount of medications in landfills and sewer systems. Please gather unneeded medications from your home and join us Oct. 29 as we work together to keep our community safe.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that in the United States, more than 107,000 people died as the result of a drug overdose last year. This figure means that someone in the United States is dying of a drug overdose every five minutes.
City of Kentwood
Residents may drop off unused, unwanted or expired prescription pills and patches from 10 a.m to 2 p.m at the Kentwood Police Department, 4742 Walma Ave. SE. Liquids, needles and sharp objects will not be accepted. For disposal of needles and other sharp objects, visit the Kent County Health Department’s reimaginetrash.org or click here.
The service is free and anonymous, with no questions asked.
City of Wyoming
The Wyoming Department of Public Safety, 2300 DeHoop Ave., has a SafeMed box at the station where anyone may properly dispose of medications throughout the year.
The department also partners with University of Michigan Health West, 2122 Health Dr. SW, on Drug Take Back Day. The event at UMHW will be a drive-thru from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. People are encouraged to stay in their car and a volunteer will come to the vehicle.
As with the Kentwood program, this program is free with no questions asked.
On Oct. 20 at approximately 1:19 p.m. the Kentwood Police Department was dispatched to 5768 Hickory Hill Court for a “shots” fired complaint. After talking with the caller, it was determined that a single subject remained inside the residence and no persons were harmed during the initial incident. Kentwood Police surrounded the home and began making contact with the suspect. Local schools were notified of the incident and went into lock down. Kentwood Police were able to make contact with the suspect, and he surrendered peacefully at around 5 p.m. No injuries were sustained during the incident for any of the involved parties.
Kentwood detectives will be working with the Kent County Prosecutors office to determine necessary charges. Kentwood Police Department also would like to thank the Kent County Sheriff’s Department and Wyoming Department of Public Safety for their assistance in coming to a peaceful resolution.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Kentwood Police Department Detective Bureau at 616-656-6604. Anonymous tips can be submitted through Silent Observer at 616-774-2345 or SilentObserver.org.
Crosswalk at 34th Street and Buchanan Avenue in the Godwin Public Schools district. (Supplied)
Crosswalk at Lee Street and Cleveland Avenue in Godfrey-Lee Public Schools district. (Supplied)
Crosswalk at Mangolia Avenue and Farnham Street in Kelloggsville Public Schools district. (Supplied)
Crosswalk located near the Wyoming High School. (WKTV)
By Joanne Bailey-Boorsma WKTV Managing Editor joanne@wktv.org
Last week the City of Wyoming wrapped up a project designed to help improve public safety while promoting local school pride.
On Jun 7, 2022 the Wyoming City Council awarded a contract to Gallagher Asphalt Corporation for $100,500 to install four art-based crosswalks that were placed in the Kelloggsville, Godwin Heights, Godfrey-Lee and Wyoming Public School districts. The total project was $110,550 which included a 10 percent construction contingency of $10,050.
The project was funded by $90,000 in grants from the Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) and a $10,000 grant from the General Motors Corporation.
Creating a safer community
“Using art to transform our city into a safer, more desirable community is part of what we do here in Wyoming,” said Major Jack Poll. “We hope this project will be another opportunity to enhance recognition that residents are part of one community, one City of Wyoming, regardless of where they live and which school district they attend.”
In her recommendation of the project, city’s Director of Community Services Rebecca Rynbrandt said “innovative painting of crosswalks is shown to be effective in increasing public awareness of the crosswalk for drivers and encourages increased use by pedestrians with an impact of reducing car and pedestrian accidents.
“This project is designed to increase community awareness of the number of school districts located in the city, increase school district pride, and to enhance resident recognition of being a part of one community, one Wyoming.”
Identifying the locations
The city has seven school districts within its city boundaries. Originally, five school districts, the four mentioned plus Grandville, where selected.
The COVID pandemic delayed the project and then it was delayed again when new estimate exceeded $100,000 and additional funding had to be secured. Grandville was removed from the list as funding came through the CDBG program, which restricts investment to low and moderate income areas of the city.
Wyoming’s Community Services Department staff worked with Public Safety to discuss emergency response needs and identify a location within each school district that would benefit from a new crosswalk. Information also was gathered from the city’s traffic engineers.
The designs were created by staff in consultation with each school district. The design features a white and turquoise stripped pattern with the school’s logo.
The final locations of the sidewalks are:
Godfrey-Lee Public Schools: Lee Street and Cleveland Avenue
Wyoming Public Schools: Near the Wyoming High School on Prairie Parkway between Michael and Burlingame avenues
Godwin Heights Public Schools: 34th Street and Buchanan Avenue
Kelloggsville Public School: Magnolia Avenue and Farnham Street
The Grandville Public Schools location, which is to be 52nd and Wilson Avenue, is scheduled to be constructed in 2023 when additional funds become available. The Grandville school district services most of the city’s panhandle population.
By Joanne Bailey-Boorsma WKTV Managing Editor joanne@wktv.org
In March, the Wyoming Department of Public Safety installed license plate readers. Within six months, it has been able to identify and recover 13 stolen vehicles and arrest 18 suspects.
“The real story is that we are able to find missing persons,” said Chief Kim Koster. “If an older family member gets into a car and takes off and the family cannot find the person, we can enter the person’s license plate number into the reader. If the person has passed a reader, it will let us know and give us an idea where to start searching for that missing person.”
From left, CALEA Executive Director Craig Hartley, Wyoming City Manager Curtis Holt, Wyoming Public Safety Chief Kimberly Koster,, Wyoming Sergeant Jeremy Walter, Wyoming Captain Eric Wier, Wyoming Lt. Brian Look, and CALEA Commissioner Marcus Brown. (Supplied)
Through that process, the department has been able to find two missing persons since March.
It is because of the Wyoming Department of Public Safety‘s commitment to utilizing best practices in law enforcement that it has earned its fourth in a row accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation of Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA). This includes implementing new technology, such as the license plate readers, as well as reviewing policies and procedures.
Meeting the standards
CALEA is considered the “gold standard in public safety.” Of the approximately 18,000 law enforcement agencies in the United States, the Wyoming Department of Public Safety is one of 770 agencies nationwide that has CALEA accreditation. It is one of 12 in the State of Michigan. Wyoming received accreditation in 2012.
Wyoming Department of Public Safety Chief Kim Koster (Supplied)
“It is the blueprint for success for a department,” Koster said. “I always say it is the people, our officers, who make the department where we work but CALEA helps to organize us and achieve our goals.”
Reaccreditation happens every four years. To receive reaccreditation, the department must provide proof every year that the agency is in compliance with about 180 of the 452 CALEA standards. Commissioners review different guidelines each year and on the fourth year, all 452 standards are reviews with assessors coming to the department to meet with officers and the public, and department officials coming before the Commission.
“Today, one of the things that departments need to do in general is to be transparent and accountable,” Koster said. “By having this accreditation, we are doing both and it assures the public that we are performing the best practices in law enforcement.
Keeping Up-to-date
Once such practice that came out during the 2020 George Floyd situation was the development of the duty to intervene policy, which the Wyoming Department of Public Safety has incorporated.
“While it was the expectation that an officer would intercede and help de-escalate a situation when he or she sees the use of of force in excess, departments did not have that as a policy,” Koster said.
CALEA also provides direction on other police activities such as witness identification of suspect, best practices in training, evidence handling and storage, and recruiting.
In fact, by being a part of CALEA, the department has the opportunity to learn about what others across the nation are doing in police and public safety. Koster said during the reaccreditation process, the assessors asked about areas the department was looking for assistance. She chose recruiting and was offered a number of ideas including working with MichiganWorks!
But it is not only reviewing policies to assure they are meeting current modern-day needs, but also keeping up on technology and the possibilities of how it can help in police work. That encouragement to consider new ideas is what lead to the department purchasing the license plate readers.
Following the road map
“This is a map in how we should be doing things,” Koster said. “For example, in training, it focuses on best practices in such items as the use of the force, handling calls or helping someone with a mental health issue. By making sure that you are revisiting that topic every year, it assures that you are using the most update-to-date information and techniques.”
CALEA was formed in 1979 through the combined efforts of four major law enforcement organizations: the International Association of Chiefs of Police, National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, National Sheriff’s Association, and the Police Executive Research Form. The main purpose of the Commission is to develop standards based on international best practices in public safety, and to establish and administer the accreditation process which looks at how a department meets recognized criteria for excellence in management and service delivery. Accreditation is voluntary.
Using GPS tracking on phones to recover stolen merchandise and vehicles. Pulling trace evidence from the inside of a driver door’s handle to identify a suspect. Risking their lives by entering into the flood waters of Buck Creek to save a civilian. Making sure a vulnerable resident has a safe place to stay at a local hotel.
These were the stories – the ones often not told – that were shared at the annual Wyoming Department of Public Safety Employee Recognition Ceremony last week as the department recognized about 80 officers and civilians for their actions in crime prevention, recovery, and rescue.
Office Brady Heckman was named the 2021 Office of the Year. (WKTV)
“In light of all the events that have taken place over the past few years that have impacted not only our profession but our personal lives, I think it is more important than ever that we celebrate each other,” said Wyoming Department of Public Safety Chief Kim Koster. “It is imperative that we acknowledge all of the accomplishments of our fellow police officers and firefighters. We can not let the stories of our compassionate service and heroic actions go untold. The work we do matters and it does make a difference.”
An officer whose work certainly has made a difference is that of Officer Brady Heckman. A five-year veteran on the force, Heckman received a number of accolades, including a certificate of merit and individual commendation for his work in locating illegally possessed firearms, taking violent criminals off the streets, and his care for victims. For his dedication, Heckman, who is a field training officer, a tackle bike team member, and operator on the tack team, was named the 2021 Officer of the Year, which is chosen by a panel of sworn officers.
“Heckman has earned a reputation as an outstanding police professional with a keen ability for catching criminals and a heart for serving this community,” said Capt. Timothy Pols who with Fire Deputy Chief Dennis Vantassell served as master of ceremonies. “He is valued by co-workers and supervisors alike as a consistent teamplayer. He is an outstanding representative of the law enforcement profession in general and the Wyoming Police Department in particular.”
From his peers, it was noted that Heckman “makes being proactive a priority and sets an example for young officers to do the same,” as well as for his work in locating stolen vehicles, seeking out criminals and making arrests, and volunteering to help new recruits.
Celia Rhodes was named the 2021 Civilian of the Year. (WKTV)
The department’s civilian employees also form a panel to select a civilian of the year, which for 2021 is Celia Rhodes. Rhodes, who has served as a forensic science technician with the department for four and half years, has become an expert in evidence storage and operating the BEAST (Bar Coded Evidence Analysis Statistical Tracking) evidence management system.
“Celia is well known and respected for her upbeat attitude and true passion for helping others in need,” Pols said. “No matter what she is working on, Celia never turns away from aiding someone else, whether it be explaining policy or procedure to a fellow employee or talking to a citizen about their case. She always does so with a smile and genuine care for whomever she is working with.”
Another officer recognized for his investigation work on child sexual abuse was Det. Dan Vlietstra, who received the Chief’s Award of Professional Excellence. For the past two years, Viletstra has been the department’s liaison with the Children’s Advocacy Center of Kent County, where he works with a multidisciplinary team and coordinates the investigation of abuse allegations.
“Through his work, Dan has been able to stop the abuse, identify the perpetrators, hold them accountable, and support the victim and their family on a path of recovery and healing,” Koster said.
Also receiving the Chief’s Award of Professional Excellence were Fire Inspector Brad Dornbos, Lt. Chris Velzen, Equipment Operator (EO) Brandon Travis, and firefighter (FF) Matt Frazee, for their work in recruiting, interviewing and training new firefighters.
Also honored was Mayor Jack Poll, who received the Chief’s Award of Excellence for his dedication to the Public Safety Department during the past 13 years he has served as the city’s mayor. Poll will retire from public service at the end of this year.
“I have lived in Wyoming now for 67 years and I can tell you that I have never gone to bed at night that I was concerned about my safety because we have such stellar leaders in our community,” Poll said.
Police officers receiving the individual commendation award. (WKTV)
Koster said what was presented at the recognition ceremony is only the tip of the iceberg as to what officers and firefighters have done.
“There is not a day that goes by that someone doesn’t tell me a story about a way a police officer or a firefighter has served them in a capacity that amazed them,” Koster said. “There are a lot of stories that officers don’t tell about what police officers do and firefighters who go above and beyond.”
Award Recipients
Life Saving Award
Ofc. Tony Jacob
Ofc. Russ Kamstra
Lt. Chris Velzen
EO Bradley Bennett
EO Brian Ilbrink
EO Tom Marsman
FF Ken Eppink
FF Matt Frazee
FF Jason Hanlon
FF Andrew Johnson
FF Michele Kelly
FF Jesse May
FF Alex Parsons
FF Dan Rettig
FF Jason Richardson
FF Dan Royce
Police officers and community members being recognized during the Wyoming Department of Public Safety Employee Recognition Ceremony. (WKTV)
Now all fire and police departments in Kent County will be on the same countywide digital radio system for emergencies. (pxhere.com)
The Kent County Dispatch Authority, Kent County Sheriff’s Office and Kent County Fire Chiefs Association announced the final users of the new countywide digital radio system for police, fire and emergency response personnel have transitioned to the system.
The final users are comprised of 28 fire departments across Kent County that utilize fire paging to alert emergency responders. Many of the county’s fire departments serve rural areas, where pagers provide clearer and more reliable communications. The Kent County Dispatch Authority, or KCDA, which led the radio system project, purchased the fire pagers in 2018 through a voter-approved surcharge. The pagers were used on the old system before they recently were reprogrammed by the Kent County Sheriff’s Office to the new system. The new radio system enables first responders to better communicate between agencies, ultimately saving lives, property and time.
“While the radio system has been operational for more than a year and we have already transitioned nearly 5,000 radios, transitioning the fire pagers was the final step in ensuring all of our public safety agencies in Kent County have clear and reliable communications,” said Kent County Dispatch Authority Chairman Mark Herald.
The $25.7 million radio system – funded by the 2016 voter-approved surcharge – went live in December 2020, with the Grand Rapids Police and Fire departments and Kent County Sheriff’s Office transitioning to the system in early 2021.
The 800-megahertz, or MHz, radio system replaces an outdated analog system and joins the statewide radio system operated by the Michigan Public Safety Communication System that allows coordination between local, state and federal agencies. The Kent County system is comprised of 12 transmission sites and two 911 dispatch centers: Kent County and Grand Rapids. It was the result of nearly four years of planning, site acquisition, construction, equipment installation and testing.
“The Kent County Sheriff’s Office worked closely with these 28 fire departments to provide technical support and other assistance to ensure a smooth transition,” Kent County Sheriff Michelle LaJoye-Young said. “Adding these agencies to the new radio system enhances the safety of our residents and first responders.”
The KCDA is a multi-jurisdictional and multi-disciplinary board created by Kent County and the cities of Grand Rapids, Grandville, Walker and Wyoming to enhance 911 communication services in the county.
“These pagers are critical to alerting firefighters of calls for service and ensuring response activities are coordinated between agencies,” said Kent County Fire Chiefs Association President Sam Peterson. “We are grateful to the Kent County Dispatch Authority and Kent County Sheriff’s Office for their partnership in this important project.”
Recent Kent County-led but community-wide efforts to prevent sexual violence, including a recent survey directing public education and team training efforts, are garnering excitement and hope in the healthcare field.
But everybody knows work still needs to be done.
The Sexual Assault Prevention Action Team of Kent County (SAPAT) is a coalition of Kent County’s individuals and organizations dedicated to the elimination of sexual violence. The team’s goal is to stop sexual assault before it starts by providing education, training, and events to the community that will help people understand how they can prevent sexual assault from occurring.
In order to maximize SAPAT’s effectiveness, a team was formed to create a survey of 38 questions that was put before the general public in the fall of 2021. The results of that survey effort were important and enlightening.
(Pxhere)
“Sexual violence is a real issue that can impact anyone. Our goal was to see what the perceptions and experiences of people in West Michigan were in regard to sexual violence,” Aaron Toffoli, leader of the survey workgroup, said to WKTV. “We wanted to see … if they had experienced some sort of sexual violence, how law enforcement responded, how organizations meant to serve people who have experienced sexual violence worked for those people — or didn’t. What did they do good, what they could improve? We really wanted to get an idea of any gaps that were existing.”
The purpose of the survey was to allow SAPAT to gain a bigger picture of what was going on in regard to sexual violence in Kent County to drive their strategic planning and fill those existing gaps.
Survey results revealed that community members, when rating the seriousness of the problem of sexual violence in West Michigan from 1 (not at all a problem) to 10 (a serious problem), responded with a the median value of 7. Educating community members about intervention and knowing what education people would need to feel more comfortable intervening in a situation or reporting a situation, is one of SAPAT’s goals.
The survey also covered certain stereotypes and generalizations that people have and often make about victims and perpetrators. One such common stereotype is looking down on victims because of how they dress or how much alcohol they consume.
Toffoli said the survey data revealed 55.8 percent of respondents agreed or strongly agreed with the statement: “If a person is raped while they are drunk, they are at least somewhat responsible for what happened.”
That particular statistic showed Toffoli that “we have a lot of work to do to dispel these myths and instead hold the perpetrator responsible,” she said. “We believe that no matter what a victim does or does not do, the choice to perpetrate sexual violence is 100 percent up to the perpetrator.”
Information and action
“(People) don’t realize that anybody can be a victim, and it blinds them to the reality of things and makes them think that they, or people they know, can’t or won’t be a victim,” Toffoli said. “We wanted to assess how prevalent those myths were and what education might be needed to dispel those myths and to educate people on the proper ways to intervene, and empower them to be able to act appropriately and mitigate those issues before they even happen.”
Toffoli hopes the observations collected during the survey will help shape organizational policies after they have enough data to know the true impact of SAPAT’s efforts.
“We hope to do this survey on a regular basis, say every three years, in order to establish trends,” she said. “Once you get two or three (surveys) together, then you can establish trends and compare it with the work that you’re doing and see if it’s having an impact.”
Strategic plans will be determined by late spring or early summer, and SAPAT will begin working on implementing those plans over the next three years. They will then run the survey again to create a plan for the subsequent three years.
Toffoli also urges the community to get involved.
“People can help by advocating for laws that hold perpetrators accountable, and push for funding of programs that expand education and services … or those affected and those who are potential perpetrators as well, to help prevent them from becoming perpetrators,” she said.
SAPAT focuses on primary prevention — stopping sexual violence before it starts. “It really starts in the home,” Toffoli said, “and parents need to be informed and empowered to do that.”
Resources available to public
There are many resources and hotlines available to community members that allow opportunities to receive help, and information on how to help others in need.
Currently there are 27 Wyoming firefighters. The department is down by 8 employees from 2000. (WKTV)
In the early morning hours of Jan. 25, the Wyoming Fire Department was called to a house fire on Canal Ave and shortly after, the department received a second call of a fire at the 28th Street Taco Bell.
“Thankfully another shift was on,” said Wyoming Chief Kim Koster. “The Taco Bell fire occurred at 6:30 a.m. Our next shift came on at 7 a.m., so we did have another shift of firefighters who could respond, and they were assisted by other departments.
“But what if we didn’t have that other shift coming on at that time?”
More than likely, a department from a neighboring city, such as Grandville, Grand Rapids, or Kentwood, would have been called. In fact, the City of Wyoming has had to call on those three cities 165 times in 2021 while in the same year providing return assistance 23 times.
The tide needs to turn, Koster said, adding “We need to provide mutual aid in the same manner that we receive it.”
The City of Wyoming is hoping to double its firefighting staffing from 27 to 54 and added 13 police officers and a crime analyst through two proposals on the May 3 ballot. The first proposal would be an income tax of up to 1 percent for city residents and up to .5 percent for non-residents such as commuters who work in the city. In the second proposal, the city is seeking to reduce its property tax by about 58 percent, from around 12 mills to 5. Both proposals must pass to take effect.
The passage would generate about $6 million for the city, of which $5.4 million would be dedicated to the Wyoming Department of Public Safety, which houses the city’s police and fire.
How would the city gain revenue if the property tax would go down? According to City Manager Curtis Holt at the March 24 income tax public information meeting, according to the U.S. Census there are about 34,000 non-Wyoming residents who work in the City of Wyoming who currently contribute zero toward the city roads or services. Through the first proposal, those residents would contribute up to a .5 percent of their income. City staff has estimated the total revenue raised from the income tax would be about $6 million annually with $3.3 million dedicated to the fire department, $2.1 million to the police department, and $600,000 to the parks.
With the additional $3.3 million, the City of Wyoming would be able to hire an additional 27 firefighters. This would add about 9 firefighters per shift and the city would be able to fully staff all four of its fire stations. Currently only two of the stations, Gezon and 36th Street, are fully staffed; however emergency calls are evenly distributed throughout the city, Koster said.
The city received about 7,155 calls in 2021, which is about 265 calls for service per firefighter. With the additional firefighters, calls for service per firefighter would decrease to around 133. In neighboring Kentwood, calls for service per firefighter is about 121. Kentwood has 42 firefighters serving a population of 51,898. The City of Grand Rapids has 195 firefighters serving a population of 201,013 with calls for service per firefighter around 123. Holt pointed out that this shows that Wyoming’s firefighters are answering a lot of calls.
The Wyoming Fire Department answered 7,155 calls in 2021, averaging 265 calls for service per firefighter. (WKTV)
The additional 27 firefighters would allow the city to fully staff all four of its stations, Koster said, adding that in return this would mean faster response times.
“Right now, we have to send our resources to where the calls are,” Koster said during the March 24 informational meeting. “Sometimes we have to send them all away across the city and then a call comes out from where they just came from. So then again, we have to send a unit from this side of the city all the way back. So our response times are higher that way.”
There would be more firefighters on each shift, again increasing response times along with providing enough officers to answer more than one call at a time. More officers not only increases the safety of residents but of the firefighters as well.
“Right now, we don’t have enough firefighters in the City of Wyoming to enter a burning building,” Koster said, adding that the rule is you have to have two out for the two going in a burning structure so the two out can rescue the two in if something happens.
Lastly, the increased staffing would reduce Wyoming’s dependence on mutual aid.
“It won’t eliminate it,” Koster said, adding that there will be times when another city’s department has to be called.
“It would increase the number of firefighters on each shift so when we have those structure fires we can handle them alone or at least leave some of those units available for some of those medical calls,” she said.
To learn more about the two May 3 proposals, visit wyomingmi.gov/FundingFortheFuture. The next informational meeting on the two proposals is April 19 at 6:30 p.m. at the KDL Wyoming Branch, 3350 Michael Ave. SW.
The Kentwood police department was present at the Woodland Mall for National Night Out. (WKTV/2019)
By WKTV Staff
The Kentwood Police Department announced recently that it is inviting community members who are interested in becoming a police officer to apply for its sponsored police recruit position.
The department will pay participants $23 an hour while they attend the Grand Valley State University Police Academy or another approved police training program, as well as cover the cost of training. Upon successful completion of training, background checks, orientation and other requirements, police recruits will be sworn in as patrol officers with the Kentwood Police Department.
Applications for the sponsored police recruit position will be accepted through April 15.
Kentwood Police Chief Bryan Litwin (shown when he was deputy chief). (Supplied)
“The Kentwood Police Department is committed to creating a local path to a career in law enforcement for both traditional and non-traditional students,” Police Chief Bryan Litwin said in supplied material. “This sponsored position has proven successful as part of our efforts to recruit and hire individuals who are representative of Kentwood’s diverse community. As our department continues to face staffing shortages, we believe sponsorships are critical to achieving appropriate staffing levels and remaining competitive with other police agencies.”
To be considered for this full-time employment opportunity, applicants must be at least 18 years old, have a valid driver’s license, be a U.S. citizen, have a high school or GED diploma, and have no prior felony convictions or certain misdemeanor convictions according to MCOLES guidelines.
The Kentwood Justice Center which houses 62-B District Court and the Kentwood Police Department. (WKTV)
By WKTV Staff
In conjunction with National Judicial Outreach Week, the City of Kentwood’s 62-B District Court has announced that residents are invited to meet Judge Amanda Sterkenburg and learn more about the court during a hybrid public/online event Wednesday, March 2.
National Judicial Outreach Week was created in 2017 by the American Bar Association to encourage judges to invite community members to their courthouses to meet with them, share information about the rule of law and talk about the work courts do every day. Every year, it is held March 1-10 and features a “Preserving the Rule of Law” theme.
The City of Kentwood Justice Center houses both the city’s police department headquarters and the 62-B District Court. (Supplied)
The 62-B District Court will host its event inside the courtroom at the Kentwood Justice Center, 4740 Walma Ave. SE, and online via Zoom from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
During the event, Judge Sterkenburg will give a presentation on the importance of the judiciary and how the court preserves the rule of law. Community members will have the opportunity to ask questions and offer suggestions on how the court can better serve the community.
62-B District Court Judge Amanda Sterkenburg. (Supplied)
“National Judicial Outreach Week is a perfect opportunity for the court to foster a greater understanding of our role in government,” Sterkenburg said in supplied material. “We are looking forward to hosting our first-ever judicial outreach event at the 62-B District Court in that spirit and to connect with our community.”
Community members are asked to RSVP for the event online or by calling 616-554-0715.
To help slow the spread of COVID-19, in-person attendance will be limited to the first 40 who register, and face coverings will be required for all regardless of vaccination status.
The event will also be available via Zoom. Virtual participation information will be emailed to registrants prior to the event. Attendees who require interpreter services or other accommodations are asked to contact the court at 616-554-0715 by Friday, Feb. 25.
Sterkenburg began presiding over the 62-B District Court in January 2021, for a six-year term. In her prior practice as a solo attorney, she represented criminal and civil defendants, landlords, tenants and litigants with many different types of claims. Her experience includes successful jury trials on assault, theft and retail fraud offenses. She has more than 90 hours of mediation training and has handled matters in many local circuit and district courts, including the 62-B District Court.
The 62-B District Court, according to the announcement, “strives to earn the public’s trust and confidence by providing a fair and just forum for the resolution of civil and criminal disputes, providing services in a professional, timely and efficient manner with respect and courtesy, educating and providing services in an understandable and user-friendly fashion, being accountable for the resources invested in the court and recognizing the changing needs of the judicial system and the people it serves.”
For more information contact Court Administrator Michele White at 616-554-0715 or whitem@kentwood.us.
At the opening of Guiding Light’s Iron House, sober-living apartments, in the City of Kentwood in late January, Guiding Light Board Chair John Harrington provides opening remarks and Esther Yff-Prins, one of the Guiding Light spiritual directors, gives the blessing of the Iron House. (Supplied)
Guiding Light, a Grand Rapids non-profit that helps men struggling with addiction and homelessness to return to society, announced this week the opening of its sixth Iron House as two of its clients moved into the sober-living apartments in the City of Kentwood.
Clients, staff, board members and volunteers gathered for a private blessing and tour of the recently remodeled building on Jan. 28.
The new Iron House comes at a time of increased demand for addiction recovery services, according to the announcement. Since the beginning of 2021, Guiding Light has experienced increases in the number of inquiries and program enrollments for its Recovery program.
The opening of a new Guiding Light Iron House in the City of Kentwood. (Supplied)
Able to accommodate seven men, the four-unit apartment building increases the nonprofit’s capacity to house men “as they transition back into the mainstream of society after successfully completing the Foundation phase of Guiding Light’s Recovery program,” according to the announcement.
In total, Guiding Light can house a total of 42 men in its six Iron House locations.
The apartments are designed for community-oriented sober living and are reserved exclusively for men who have finished four to six months of intensive residential treatment that combines evidence-based practices, life-coaching, therapy, support groups, spiritual direction and other resources to equip men to stay sober and reengage with their family, friends and community.
Background on Iron House program
The Iron House model has proven to be a “key component” in setting clients up for success to achieve long-term recovery, according to the announcement. Guiding Light has found 76 percent of men who move to Iron House reach at least one year of abstinence-based sobriety.
Guiding Light Board Chair John Harrington provides opening remarks at the opening of a City of Kentwood Iron House. (Supplied)
“We want to give men the best opportunity possible for living a healthy, connected life in recovery,” Recovery Director Brian Elve said in supplied material. “That’s why we created a structure with Iron House that allows men to stay connected with the support offered by Guiding Light.
“We recognize it takes a year or more to change the physical structure of the brain and its response to addiction. Iron House allows for truly comprehensive, long-term, transformative care and we are excited to invest in our community this way.”
After completing the “Foundation” phase of recovery, Guiding Light clients who are interested in continuing their recovery journeys at Iron House are able to apply for the opportunity. If accepted, clients are able to move into an apartment once they have secured full-time employment.
In addition to abstinence-based sobriety, Iron House residents focus on honing important life skills. Residents all have jobs. They buy and prepare their own food, pay their own bills and engage with each other in a communal-living environment.
“They look after and support each other, practicing community and providing support to one another with a common goal of creating lives worth staying sober for,” according to the announcement.
Programs, goals of Guiding Light
While living more independently, residents still have access to the support and resources of the recovery program, such as the opportunity to attend classes or support groups, participate in a spiritual direction group, work with a life coach and give back to the community through service.
Not only has Iron House been a key part of helping residents maintain their sobriety, it has also generated profits to ensure Guiding Light’s programming can remain free to participants, according to the announcement.
Funds from Iron House and The Job Post, Guiding Light’s two social enterprises, benefit clients while also aiding in the financial sustainability of the nonprofit’s programs. The programs are otherwise entirely funded by donations and grants.
Founded in 1929 as the West Fulton St. Mission, Guiding Light has grown into a recovery and reengagement community designed to “help those living at society’s margins fulfill their God-given potential,” according to supplied information.
For more information about Guiding Light’s recovery program, call 616-451-0236, ext. 23 and “take a confidential first step.” Learn more at guidinglightworks.org.
The City of Kentwood’s 62-B District Court announced this week that it has launched On the Road, a new program that encourages individuals with certain license-related charges to obtain a valid license, potentially avoid a criminal conviction, and helping the community have safer roads.
Launched in late 2021, On the Road eliminates hurdles for individuals who have been charged by the city with driving unlicensed or with a suspended, revoked or denied license. The program aims to help community members avoid the repeated suspensions that can result from license-related convictions and keep them from appearing on their permanent criminal record.
This helps drivers avoid Secretary of State penalties as well as the “barriers that criminal convictions can lead to in terms of employment eligibility, housing and education,” according to the announcement.
62-B District Court Judge Amanda Sterkenburg. (Supplied)
“Our goal is to create incentives for people in these situations to become licensed drivers, which will ultimately result in safer roads for our community,” 62-B District Court Judge Amanda Sterkenburg said in supplied material. “Often, we see defendants who are close to getting their license for the first time but are unable to overcome certain licensure hurdles or who are unaware their license is suspended because of an unpaid ticket. The additional charges put more distance between them and valid-license privileges.
“This program gives individuals the opportunity to conform their conduct to the law without a criminal conviction and streamline the process for them to become a licensed driver.”
State law was amended last year to create a presumption that these offenses should not be punished with jail time. Individuals are now frequently required to pay fines and complete community service, which can be difficult for individuals who do not have a driver’s license and another form of transportation.
(Michigan.gov)
Failing to complete the requirements can result in additional penalties including up to 93 days in jail, probation, fines of up to $500 plus court costs, and a misdemeanor conviction on their permanent criminal record.
With On the Road, eligible individuals can avoid this difficult situation and sanctions if they successfully complete the program.
The court’s judge will determine if a person is eligible for the program during arraignment. However, individuals whose driver’s license has been revoked due to drug or alcohol convictions, Friend of the Court, or immigration status may be ineligible.
If an individual does qualify, they must agree to accept responsibility for a civil infraction and pay a fine during a review hearing scheduled up to four months later. Leading up to the review hearing, a person must fulfill obligations to become a licensed driver. This may include paying all tickets, removing all suspensions from their Secretary of State record, paying all fees, completing a defensive driving course and passing their road or written driving test.
For more information about On the Road, visit kentwood.us/OTR or contact Court Administrator Michele White at 616-554-0715 or whitem@kentwood.us.
Encountering email and phone scams has become a common nuisance in recent years, even more so as we become more online- and internet-focused as a culture. It is not unusual for consumers to discover a fraudulent email in their personal and business accounts every day as scam artists attempt to cheat them out of money or information.
When this WKTV writer was asked to research an article on prevalent scams in the community, I was suddenly inundated with stories of those who had become victims of scams. Some escaped unscathed, others did not.
WKTV recognizes the importance of community members being aware of current scams so they can protect themselves against becoming victims, and has compiled several personal narratives, from this writer as well as other residents, to raise that awareness. (Names have been changed to protect the victim’s identity.)
Seeing red flags in emails
Within the space of a few days, my personal email account received a message with the heading, “Happy New Year – Your Order ID#740217.” It did not specify what company I supposedly ordered from, but did contain the message, “This message is from a trusted sender.” The body of the email contained two links. One labeled, “You have won!! Gift inside.” The other, “Go Here.”
It immediately raised red flags as I didn’t remember ordering anything recently, and the email didn’t specify the sender. The line about it being from a trusted sender, however, made me pause for just a moment and consider that it might be legitimate — and that is what scammers are hoping for.
(Michigan Attorney General)
Next came an email titled: “Re: (smiling emoji) Your Package delivery notification ID#87946477.” Supposedly, this email was sent by USPS. However, I couldn’t see the United States Postal Service using emojis in their emails, and when I noticed that the email address the message originated from was indecipherable, it became obvious that it was a scam.
Some are harder to discern. The next email seemed to legitimately come from Best Buy, an electronics retailer. The sender was listed as Bestbuy.com, which made sense. The heading was: “Your Order #502-20201222—is still awaiting instructions!” It then instructed me to track the status of the order by clicking on the link offered.
There weren’t any misspellings or emojis to make me think twice about the validity of the sender. What did make me think twice was that I hadn’t ordered anything from Best Buy in years.
After a closer look at the email — which looked alarmingly similar to many invoices received from other online orders placed — I noticed that listed under Order Details was another listing of an order number. This one, however, contained a lowercase ‘n’ and then the degree symbol before listing the number, and ended with a right parenthesis. Those small mistakes reassured me that the email was a scam. A company as large as Best Buy would make sure those mistakes were nonexistent.
Another email appeared to be from a friend, but the sender’s email address did not match her true email address. Another claimed to be from Quicken Loans Affiliate attempting to confirm my mortgage savings package (I neither have a mortgage nor have ever used Quicken Loans) but the email address was a random jumble of letters and numbers, not a legitimate address.
Other stories, other scam attempts
We have all received emails that make us think, “Is this legitimate?” What we need to do is slow down and take a closer look before assuming they are real and clicking on links.
While scam artists use email more often than phone calls due to the online nature of our culture, phone calls are still prevalent, especially for elderly community members who may not be quite as media oriented.
Attempting to sell a SLR camera body on Marketplace, Denise was asked if she could chat to an interested buyer via Messenger audio. She agreed and was then asked to ship the camera directly to the buyer’s brother because it was a birthday gift. She was willing to do so. The buyer then asked if she would include a birthday card and a $50 gift card since it would be shipped directly to his brother, and he would not have the opportunity to do so himself; he would then reimburse her for the camera, shipping, and gift card once she showed proof of shipping.
Alarm bells went off in Denise’s head.
The buyer was insistent and talked fast, so she pretended to agree to do as he asked so she could bring the call to an end. When the call finished and Denise had time to organize her thoughts, she realized she would have lost the camera, shipping, and $50 if she had gone along with the man’s request.
Scam artists prey on their victim’s emotions and promote a sense of urgency that is hard to ignore when someone believes a family member is in trouble.
Molly’s father-in-law received a garbled call: “Grandpa, I’m in Atlanta, was in an accident and broke my jaw. I was arrested for being drunk but hadn’t had a drop … will you wire me money for my bail and attorney?”
Thankfully, Molly’s father-in-law suspected fraud and instructed the caller to phone his father, then called Molly and asked her to check with her son to make sure it was fraud and that his grandson truly did not need help.
It was fraudulent.
Amy’s elderly parents experienced the same call and “made it all the way to the bank, where the employee stopped them and explained that they must not make that withdrawal. We figured out that my nephew’s phone had been hacked. He was out of the country on a trip at the time.”
Mark received what appeared to be a legitimate phone call from a scammer who claimed to be from his bank, warning him that a scammer had tried to break into his account.
They asked him to verify his information to make sure everything was okay. The scammers listed his address and phone number (all easily accessed public information) and asked if it was correct. When he replied that it was, they asked, “And I have your social security number on my screen, can you verify that for me, please?” Once the Mark recited his social security number, the scammer said, “Yes, that’s right.”
The victim had just given enough information for the scammers to steal his identity and/or open various accounts in the victim’s name.
“They (the scammers) say it so casually that the victim often doesn’t realize they’ve just given away a vital piece of information to the victim; it almost sounds like the scammer supplied all of their info,” Mark said.
Marci relayed an experience of an elderly woman who received a call that her taxes were late, and her house would be foreclosed on if she didn’t wire funds within the hour. Fearing that she would become homeless, “the woman called a cab and told the driver why she had to hurry. He took her instead to the police department.”
The police handled the matter, and the woman did not lose any money.
What to do, where to for for help
Katie Grevious, Better Business Bureau Communications Specialist, urges residents to slow down and “think before you act.”
Even if you feel a sense of urgency or fear as a result of an email or phone call like the ones listed above, step back, take a deep breath, and search for those clues that will help you know if the message you received is, in fact, legitimate.
If you are unsure of the best way to identify if a message is a scam, visit Better Business Bureau’s website for tips on how to differentiate between authentic and fraudulent communications.
Please report scams to BBB’s scamtracker site: https://www.bbb.org/scamtracker. This allows consumers to know what is happening and protect themselves. It also helps law enforcement and other government agencies like BBB to root out the source of the scam and put a stop to it.
Every day online users are bombarded with real — and scam — communications. The trick to keeping your money and personal information is knowing the difference. (Pixere.com)
With email and phone scams on the rise in an ever-increasing online and media culture, local law enforcement and government agencies are working to educate consumers on current scams and how to protect themselves from becoming victims.
Phishing, defined as the fraudulent practice of sending messages designed to trick individuals into revealing personal information, has become one of the main conduits for fraud.
Katie Grevious, Better Business Bureau Communications Specialist, told WKTV that falling victim to a scam has become more difficult to avoid as “scammers are becoming more crafty and creative.” Grevious said that scammers use fear and a sense of urgency to prompt consumers into following their directives: “It is an emotional situation. Something is wrong, something bad is going to happen — that’s what gets people.”
The ongoing pandemic has also played a role in increasing the phishing strategy, with emails offering grants to those out of work and in need of money. In a more general sense, an increasing number of consumers have begun shopping online, providing ample opportunities for scam artists to create situations that involve an emotional response of fear and urgency.
“We don’t see it really slowing down as the pandemic continues and we become more online and internet focused,” Grevious said.
An online scam could also be as simple as clicking on a link to track an order. Scam artists often use the names of larger corporations, such as Amazon, to send emails offering a link to track an order that the consumer may not remember placing.
Grevious urges consumers to hover their computer mouse over the link, which will reveal a bar that states where it will actually take you, and even hover over the sender’s name to see the email address associated with that email. If it is a jumble of letters and numbers instead of, for example, Amazon.com, it is not legitimate. Also look at the browser — if there is a lock symbol and “https” listed there, it means it is a secure and authentic site.
“It is really important that people are vigilant all the time,” said Grevious. “Look for simple grammar and spelling mistakes. Big companies make sure everything is spelled correctly.”
Slowing down is also key to ensuring consumers don’t miss something important.
(Pixere.com)
“Think before you act,” Grevious said. “Our culture has a quick-go pace. We do a lot on our phones, so we don’t do that double-checking and hovering.”
Det. Andrew Tompkins of the Kent County Sherriff’s Office and member of the Metropolitan Fraud and Identity Theft Team agrees: “Good practice is that if you didn’t order anything or didn’t sign up for something, then it’s most likely a scam.”
Grevious also urges consumers to avoid emails that tell you to re-log into another account you may have, such as Facebook, and offer a link to do so in order to complete the instructions given. These are often ploys that will reveal your password to the sender.
“People may think it’s not important if their Facebook or Instagram account gets hacked,” said Grevious, “but a lot of people have a lot of similar passwords because it’s too hard to remember 200 different passwords to everything. Your Facebook password may offer a clue on how to get into more important accounts — like bank accounts.”
Preying on pet, gift card buyers
In 2021, one of the most common phishing scams involved buying pets online.
“People tried to buy pets online because of the pandemic,” Grevious said. “They pay for the pet through payment apps and then find out it’s a scam. The scammers will often use a random address on the website they create, so people assume it’s real. Then they show up at that address to get their animal and it’s not there.”
Buying pets online is also a place to be aware of possible cams. (Kent County District Court historic photo)
Grevious advises seeing the animal you are interested in purchasing in person beforehand, even if it involves traveling. “Legitimate businesses want to know you are a good fit for their animal. They want to see you in person.”
While email scams have become increasingly common, scams involving phone calls are still prevalent and used often in attempts to illicit money from victims.
Det. Tompkins said that one of the most common scams involves cold calls targeting people to send gift cards, claiming they are from various government agencies and that they have a warrant for the arrest of the consumer unless he/she pays to absolve the issue.
“Government agenc(ies) will never ask for gift cards to get you out of legal trouble,” Det. Tompkins said. “No legitimate business is going to ask for gift cards for services.”
Summer and winter have revealed an upward trend in scams as air conditioning and heat are turned on in homes.
“If you pay your electric bill online, and someone calls you saying they are from Consumers Energy and ask you to confirm personal information,” Grevious said, “say you will call them back and call the company from a number you know, like the number provided on the bill.”
Det. Tompkins had similar advice: “Do not give personal information or identifying information out. Don’t call the number that a person provides you over the phone, search the number for that business to call and confirm this is a real interaction.”
Some scams, however, play on the familiar. Det. Tompkins warns residents, especially the elderly, to be careful of scammers who call claiming to be family. “Scammers call elderly pretending to be their grandkids saying they were arrested and need to send money.”
When asked the standard amount lost by individual victims of scams, he said, “The typical amount of loss is under $1,000. But if the scammers target business or subject(s) that are wealthy, then the loss is in the several thousands.”
Grevious reminds consumers to remember that, “you are in control of your information and who you are talking to. Think before you act.”
Consumers are also urged to speak up if they become victims of a scam.
“The more people let us know what is happening, the more we can help,” said Grevious.
Thanks to a federal grant totaling three-quarters of a million dollars, the Wyoming Department of Public Safety hopes to curtail gun violence and violent crimes by adding six community police officers to its department.
During a National Night Out event, a Wyoming police officer helps a resident on a motorcycle. Through a federal grant, the Wyoming Department of Public Safety plans to expand its Community Services Unit. (WKTV)
The Department was awarded the $750,000 Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Hiring Program grant from the United States Department of Justice. The Wyoming City Council accepted the grant at its Dec. 20 council meeting. With the grant money, the Department will be able to add six officers to its department, bring the police department’s total number of sworn officers to 99.
“We have seen a significant increase in violent crimes,” said Capt. Timothy Pols, the department’s public relations officer. “Last year, we had eight homicides, which is an all-time high for the city.”
Pols said the department could not contribute the increase specifically to COVID, as there was a rise before the pandemic started. However, current conditions have impacted the community with there having been an increase in reported shootings involving property damage and people being hurt, he said.
The Wyoming Department of Public Safety has been searching for funding to help increase its numbers. The COPS Hiring Program is designed to reduce crime and advance public safety through community policing by proving direct support to state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies nationwide. The program funding supports the hiring of career law enforcement officers to increase an agency’s community policing capacity and crime prevention. The funding covers up to 75 percent of the approved entry-level salaries and fringe benefits of full-time officers for three years. The city is required to cover the remaining 25 percent.
The COPS Hiring Program is an open solicitation. For the 2021 fiscal year, COPS received 590 applications from about every state and U.S. territory. It awarded grants to 183 state, local, and trial law enforcement agencies totaling $139,232,523 to support the hire of 1,066 full-time officers and deputies.
The Wyoming Department of Public Safety was one of four police departments in Michigan to receive a COPS Hiring Program grant. The other cities to receive funding were Battle Creek, West Branch, and Hamtramck. Wyoming received the highest awarded grant monies out of the four Michigan cities that received funding.
“Obviously this is a great thing for the City of Wyoming and it is really hard to turn money like that down,” said Mayor Jack Poll during the Dec. 20 City Council meeting. The grant does come with the requirement that the city fund the new six positions for at least 12 months beyond the three-year time period. The department hopes through additional local funding to maintain the new positions beyond the three-year timeframe.
The Community Services Unit works on building relationships. (WKTV)
The COPS Hire Program grant is dedicated to community policing. With the six new hires, the Wyoming Department of Public Safety will be able to move seasoned officers into its Community Services Unit, which currently consists of four Community Services Officers, three School Resource Officers, and a supervisor. By expanding the community policing, the Wyoming Department of Public Safety hopes to curtail gun violence and violent crimes through expanded evening coverage; adding a dedicated crime analyst office, gang intelligence officer, dedicated apartment liaison, and dedicated hotel/motel liaison; and increasing participation with juvenile offender reentry programs and area summer camps comprised predominately of at-risk youth along with high visibility patrols, especially in high crime areas and other community policing initiatives.
Currently, the Department is in the hiring process, Pols said adding that they have interviewed some strong candidates.
“With all that has happened in the past couple of years with COVID, I believe it has given us some dedicated candidates who have a good understanding about what is involved with today’s police work,” Pols said.
The department is seeking to fill the six positions along with several other positions that will be opening up due to retirements this year. Pols said the goal is to have the positions filled by the end of 2022.
Kentwood Police Captain Stephanie Morningstar was with family as she was promoted from sergeant to the department’s first female captain in 2018. Now she is the department’s first deputy chief. (WKTV/K.D. Norris)
The leadership change at the City of Kentwood Police Department continues as, following last week’s appointment of Chief Bryan Litwin to replace retired Chief Richard Roberts, the City of Kentwood announced Dec. 15 that Captain Stephanie Morningstar has been promoted to deputy police chief.
Deputy Chief Morningstar previously was a captain in the Kentwood Police Department’s Services Division. Chief Litwin had previously been deputy chief.
As deputy chief, Morningstar is responsible for assisting with the planning, coordination and management of the city’s police, code enforcement and traffic engineering functions and staff, according to the announcement.
“Deputy Chief Morningstar brings exceptional leadership, communication and strategic planning skills as well as more than 20 years of experience with the Kentwood Police Department to her new role,” Chief Litwin said in supplied material. “Her expertise in the department’s investigative, patrol and training efforts will be invaluable as we continue to focus on reducing serious crime, increasing traffic safety and serving the community with excellence.”
Kentwood Police Department Deputy Chief Stephanie Morningstar. (Supplied)
Morningstar started her career in Canton Township before coming to Kentwood in 2000. She served as a patrol officer, general case detective, patrol sergeant and detective sergeant before becoming the department’s first female captain in 2018.
As the former captain of the Services Division, Morningstar oversaw the Detective Bureau, Special Investigations Unit and Records Bureau, as well as the city Justice Center’spolice and court building maintenance, operations and security. Additionally, she has provided guidance and instruction at major crime scenes and conducted complaint investigations to ensure quality customer service.
“I am honored to be deputy chief of the Kentwood Police Department and serve our community in this role,” Morningstar said in supplied material. “I look forward to continuing our efforts to deliver professional police services and partnering with residents and other community members to make sure Kentwood is a wonderful place for everyone.”
During her tenure with the City of Kentwood, Morningstar has taught precision emergency vehicle response driving to police academy recruits at Grand Rapids Community College since 2007. She also developed and presented lectures on death investigations at the Grand Valley State University Police Academy from 2014-18.
Morningstar serves on several specialized units, including the Kent County Child Death Review Board, Sexual Assault Response Team, Adult Mobile Crisis Unit and Human Trafficking Coalition Coordinated Response Team. She is also a Kentwood District Court Sobriety Court advisor.
Morningstar has completed numerous trainings in different types of interviewing, interrogations and investigations, according to the city’s announcement, as well as critical incident stress management and peer support. She has also completed leadership programs through the International Association of Chiefs of Police, Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police and Grand Rapids Police Department Leadership Institute.
Morningstar graduated from Grand Valley State University and GVSU Police Academy in 1996 with a degree in criminal justice.
The City of Kentwood announced this week that after action by the City Commission on Tuesday, Dec. 7, Deputy Chief Bryan Litwin will be the next Chief of the Kentwood Police Department.
As chief, Litwin will lead a team of nearly 95 personnel, including 71 sworn police officers. And, according to the city announcement, “he will continue the department’s efforts to recruit and hire individuals who are representative of Kentwood’s diverse community, collaborate with other City departments to support community safety and engagement efforts and work to enhance quality of life.”
Additionally, he will continue to provide “the best training and equipment possible for members of the police department,” and will also oversee the department’s goal of obtaining state accreditation in 2023 through a “continued commitment to following state and national best policing practices and procedures.”
“Throughout Deputy Chief Litwin’s 22-plus years of service to the City of Kentwood, he has played an integral role in the department’s service, recruitment and training efforts,” Mayor Stephen Kepley said in supplied material. “I have no doubt the department will continue to provide excellent service to our community as has been provided by our department under the leadership of the chiefs before him.
“I look forward to the future accomplishments the department will achieve under Chief Litwin’s leadership and direction.”
Litwin joined the Kentwood Police Department in 1999 as a patrol officer. He has also served as a field training officer, community services officer, Staff Services Bureau officer, special response team member and team commander.
The Kentwood Justice Center which houses 62-B District Court and the Kentwood Police Department. (WKTV)
He was promoted to sergeant in 2012, captain in 2016 and then to deputy police chief in 2019. As captain, he managed the Professional Standards Division, served as the public information officer and oversaw the police cadet program, which recruits and develops future police officers.
“It will be an honor to serve as police chief and continue to work alongside the dedicated professionals of this outstanding department,” Litwin said in supplied material. “We will continue to commit ourselves to serving the community with excellence with a high emphasis on community engagement, transparency and accountability.”
During his tenure with the City of Kentwood, Litwin has taught ethics in law enforcement to police academy recruits at Grand Valley State University and led GVSU’s Police Academy Subject Control program. He served as chair of the department’s training committee from 2016-19. Litwin has a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from GVSU.
Litwin also helped implement the City’s first Youth Police Academy, which gives high school students and recent high school graduates hands-on experience in a variety of police-related tasks.
Litwin has completed numerous trainings, including leadership programs through the International Association of Chiefs of Police, Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police and Grand Rapids Police Department Leadership Institute.
Litwin serves as chairman of the GVSU Police Academy Advisory Board and Kent Career Technical Center Law Enforcement Advisory Board. He also has served as president of the West Michigan Tactical Officers Association.
“Deputy Chief Litwin has long been an integral part of our leadership team, demonstrating steadfast dedication to the department, profession and service to our residents,” retiring Chief Roberts said in supplied material. “With the leadership, communication and strategic planning skills he has illustrated during his career, I have complete confidence he will continue to provide exemplary leadership and fulfill the department’s mission.”
Compiling a series of photographs of the career of City of Kentwood Police Chief Richard Roberts two things stand out — there is a ton of him standing proud among his “Brothers in Blue” and a close second is him getting personal with community members, especially kids.
As Chief Roberts prepared to retire from his position this week, and end a career of four decades in police work and 30 years with the City of Kentwood, he sat down with WKTV and reflected on what has changed and what has not over his career.
“What doesn’t change, over the years as I think back, is what I thought about (when he started), what drove me to get into police work,” Chief Roberts said. “A sense of community. To help the community, be an advocate for those victims of crimes, to try to solve them, to hold people accountable. Just basically make a community a safe place for people to live, to have businesses, raise a family. … Those are the same reasons that young people, now, are seeking to get into this profession.”
Kentwood Police Chief Richard Roberts with wife Maria in an undated photo. (Supplied)
Along the way, however, Chief Roberts said, there has been good days and bad days; there has been mentors and young officers to be mentored; there has been the constant support of a policeman’s family — including his wife, Maria — who he said are “in it as much as we are.”
“It has to be that way,” he said. “We are one of those handful of careers where we work nights, holidays and weekends. This career, the family of someone who has chose this career, has to understand that. … There has to be that support from the family.”
If he did not know that the first day on the job, he knows it now.
And about that first day …
From first day, to an unexpected career path
On his first day as a patrol officer, before he even joined the Kentwood Police Department, he learned lessons about knowing your beat and dealing with the community.
“It was 38 years ago and I can remember my very first call,” Chief Roberts said. “It was a small department, one square mile, City of Roosevelt Park, over near Muskegon … It was a call for me to respond to a traffic crash.”
Problem was, as he tells the story, he did not know the city very well, wasn’t from that area, and ended up — shall we say — taking the long way to go a short distance.
“Seemed like it took me forever to get there. … (But when he did) they asked me ‘What took you so long?’,” he said. “It’s a 1-square-mile city and they could hear my siren going all around them.”
And while on that first day in a patrol car Chief Roberts really had no thoughts of one day being a department chief, he did have the mindset of taking advantage of the opportunities presented.
“I didn’t have any long-term plans to become a chief,” Chief Roberts said. “I had some shorter-term goals that I wanted to, first, take advantage of the opportunities as they came along. And my first opportunity was as a field-training officer.
“The reason that interested me is that my field-training officers here at Kentwood turned out to be some of the people that I looked up to the most throughout my career. … That is one of the most important positions here, training our new officers.”
He added that he had some “aspirations” to be a supervisor, “but there was no race to get there.” Yet he certainly got there.
Prior to joining the Kentwood Police Department, he served as deputy corrections officer at the Kent County Sheriff’s Office and as a police officer with the City of Roosevelt Park.
Roberts joined the Kentwood Police Department in 1987 as a police paramedic and has served in many different roles, including 24 years in supervisory and management positions — the last few leading a team of nearly 95 personnel, including 70 sworn police officers.
Uniquely, Chief Roberts was the first in the Kentwood Police Department history to move through the ranks from patrol officer to police chief. In addition to his paramedic experience, he also served as a detective, field training officer, field training supervisor, road patrol supervisor, Staff Services Bureau supervisor and Detective Bureau supervisor. He also served on the crisis negotiating team.
Roberts was promoted to captain of the Patrol Division in December 2012, deputy police chief in August 2017 and then to chief in November 2019.
Along the way, there were mentors and people to be mentored, he said.
“I had two very good sergeants,” Chief Roberts said. “Sgt. (Michael) Hollinrake and Sgt. (Ted) Herrington. Both were my primary sergeants early on in my career. … Just the way they carried themselves. They were good officers themselves before they became supervisors, and both of them encouraged me to take advantages of opportunities as they came along.”
Later on, he said, Capt. Scott Yerrick and Capt. Randy Williamson mentored him after he became a supervisor.
Technology, policy changes but job remains the same
While a lot has changed over the years, in Chief Roberts career and in police work in general, he said. But most of it was for the good of law-enforcement officers and most of it is good for the community they “protect and serve.”
When he first started there were no computers in the car — “Everything was done over the radio. We hand wrote everything. Now there is so much technology in these vehicles that the officers can use.”
And that use of technology extends to all aspects of police work.
“I kid with my detectives now, with all the technology that is available for investigations, I could never go back in there,” he said. “It has changed a great deal.”
When he worked as a detective, “we were door-knockers. Talking to people. Talking to people on the phone,” he said. “But now much of modern investigations are done though social media platforms and many other computerized resources.”
And as far as changes to the “way” police do their business, he simply said “policies evolve over time” and those policies are driven by case law, changes to equipment, and more and more of a focus on being part of the community not just the protector of the community.
“I think what has changed in policy goes along with what has changed in policing over the last 30, 40 years,” he said. “It has moved to more of a profession than just a job. More and more of our staff are college educated.
(Photo supplied by Kent County Sheriffs’ Office)
“Along with new technology came police changes. Probably the most prevalent one is body cameras. The use of that and the policies on the use of force. Use of force has been standard and defined based on case law, for many, many years. … What has evolved is what tools we may have to deal with the use of force” including tasers and pepper spray … “The soft techniques.”
What hasn’t changed, he said, is community involvement, community interaction.
“We are the guardians for the community,” Chief Roberts said. “So, they count on us to protect them from crime, to try to keep crime at a reduced level. We do the best we can. … Part of serving is answering their calls when they call us. But what else can we do to enhance our community?
“We can work with the community, be transparent with them, because they have to trust us. So we spend a lot of time having positive interactions with our community, not just enforcement actions.”
Chief Roberts’ retirement is effective Friday, Dec. 10. Upon the recommendation of Mayor Stephen Kepley, the City Commission confirmed Deputy Chief Bryan Litwin to become the city’s next police chief during its Dec. 7 meeting.
The City of Kentwood announced this week that Kentwood Police Chief Richard Roberts is retiring, effective Dec. 10, after a “distinguished law enforcement career spanning more than three decades.”
Roberts joined the Kentwood Police Department in 1987 as a police paramedic. During his more than 30 years with the City of Kentwood, Roberts has served in many different roles, including 24 years in supervisory and management positions, according to the announcement.
As chief, Roberts has led a team of nearly 95 personnel, including 70 sworn police officers, who “serve and protect the community with excellence,” focusing on reducing serious crime and increasing traffic safety.
“For 34 years, I have had the tremendous honor and privilege of serving this community,” Chief Roberts said in supplied material. “I am grateful to have helped guide and develop the dedicated team of the Kentwood Police Department and work with great people throughout the City. I am proud of the department’s accomplishments around technology and programs that enhance accountability and transparency and fulfill the department’s vision.”
Roberts was the first in the Kentwood Police Department to move through the ranks from patrol officer to police chief. In addition to his paramedic experience, he also served as a detective, field training officer, field training supervisor, road patrol supervisor, Staff Services Bureau supervisor and Detective Bureau supervisor. He also served on the crisis negotiating team.
Roberts was promoted to captain of the Patrol Division in December 2012, deputy police chief in August 2017 and then to chief in November 2019.
Prior to joining the Kentwood Police Department, he served as deputy corrections officer at the Kent County Sheriff’s Office and as a police officer with the City of Roosevelt Park.
Praise from mayor; planning for the future
“Chief Roberts has been a vital team player for our Police Department and our entire community for more than three decades,” Kentwood Mayor Stephen Kepley said in supplied material. “He has played an integral role in fulfilling the department’s mission to protect our residents and implementing new technology to better serve our community. While we are sad to see him go, we wish him the best as he moves into retirement and thank him for his dedicated service throughout the years.”
During his tenure, Roberts instituted a body camera program to enhance accountability and transparency, including the training and outfitting of all officers with the new technology. He also implemented the Data-Driven Approach to Crime and Traffic Safety program, which integrates location-based crime and traffic data to establish effective and efficient methods for deploying law enforcement and other resources. This has led to a reduction in crime, crashes and traffic violations, according to the announcement.
Roberts also prioritized the start of the Michigan Law Enforcement Accreditation Program through the Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police. This accreditation requires the voluntary adoption of professional standards and analysis to ensure department operations meet these standards. It is anticipated the department will receive accreditation in late 2022.
Mayor Kepley is recommending the appointment of Deputy Chief Bryan Litwin to the City Commission for confirmation to fill the police chief position. The City Commission will consider the appointment during its Dec. 7 meeting.
“I have the utmost confidence in the next generation of leadership within the department,” Roberts said. “We have always made internal leadership development a priority. I have no doubt the department is well-prepared to continue to serve the community with excellence and bring the organization to new heights.”
In retirement, Roberts and his wife, Maria, plan to travel and spend more time with family, according to the announcement.
Police and other Michigan government employees could be sued and held liable if they hurt or kill someone while on the job, under proposed legislation working through the state legislature.
Current, qualified immunity shields government workers from lawsuits for gross misconduct or negligence while on duty.
A police reform package pushed by the state House of Representatives’ Democrats would reduce the blanket protections. They say it would allow police departments and other government agencies to more easily weed out bad apples.
“If you go over, above and beyond, outside the scope of your duties that are spelled out, there has to be some accountability,” said co-sponsor Rep. Tyrone Carter, D-Detroit, a 24-year veteran of the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office. “And the general public is tired of paying for lawsuits for officers for their outrageous, egregious conduct.”
Locally, Kent County’s top law enforcement official is quick to define that qualified immunity is much more than simply a policing issue, and says changes are unnecessary.
Qualified immunity “is a very complex term, but simplistically put, it is something that protects an individual from the government, an individual who is a representative of the government — it may be a police officer but it may be the sewer guy or it may be someone from the health department,” Kent County Sheriff Michelle LaJoye-Young said in a recent interview with WKTV. “It protects them from being held liable for a decision they make if that decision is in compliance with local laws, policies and procedures of the department, and doesn’t act in a way that is irresponsible, outside of their direction.
“The consequences for taking qualified immunity away really has to do with the civil liability of the government unit. … None of that is to say the a person should not be personally responsible for a decision that is outside of their training and direction and procedures. … There is already a way to sue a government (or government individual) that is not compliant.”
Support and opposition to change is a national issue
A national survey by the Cato Institute found that 63 percent of Americans support eliminating governmental immunity.
Nationwide criticism of qualified immunity catapulted into the public eye after the murder of George Floyd who was killed by a Minneapolis policeman on May 25, 2020. Since Floyd’s death, Colorado, Connecticut, New York and New Mexico either ended or limited the protective scope of qualified immunity.
“Although qualified immunity has prevented victims of police misconduct from holding officers accountable for decades, until recently it had been a relatively obscure doctrine that was not on the radar of many non-lawyers,” said Michael Steinberg in a faculty Q&A. Steinberg, who advocates for ending qualified immunity, is a professor and director of the Civil Rights Litigation Initiative at the University of Michigan Law School.
But strong resistance to any change in the law remains.
The U.S. Supreme Court recently upheld such protection by overturning lower court decisions to remove qualified immunity in cases in California and Oklahoma.
Bipartisan police reform negotiations in the U.S. Congress ended without resolution in September, even after Democrats removed controversial changes suggested for qualified immunity.
The Michigan bills are co-sponsored by Detroit representatives and House Democrats across the state. If they are signed into law, when police officers or government officials are sued and found liable, they will have to personally write the check.
Law enforcement officials say that’s a deal breaker.
“When a municipality gets faced with a lawsuit, more times than not they look at it as a business decision on whether or not to settle,” Livingston County Sheriff Michael Murphy said.
And the insurance company or municipality writes the check, he said. “I’m a cop. I’m just essentially a blue collar worker. I don’t have a million dollar check to write.”
Qualified immunity does not mean that law officers have complete immunity for their actions, Murphy said. It has to be granted by a judge.
“This is not something that the cop or the municipality can just hold up and say, ‘Oh, hey, I work for the government or I’m a cop, I get qualified immunity.’”
Removing qualified immunity protection is currently a case-by-case decision, Steinberg said.
Under the qualified immunity defense, people injured by police or family members of those killed must prove the violation of their rights with examples from “nearly-identical” court cases, the American Civil Liberties of Michigan said in a prepared statement.
Still, police say removing any part of the qualified immunity statute is a bad idea.
“Ending qualified immunity puts police officers always at risk of having their actions judged, not by what they knew, and not judged on what the rules were today but judged upon hindsight being 20-20,” said Bob Stevenson of the Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police.
Murphy and Kenneth Grabowski, the legislative director of the Police Officers Association of Michigan, say they believe the current law is working fine.
“Most of this stuff is just to placate people complaining,” said Grabowski. “But it works.”
Murphy said that if people understood how difficult it is to get qualified immunity, this discussion wouldn’t even be taking place.
“I really, truly believe in my heart, that most men and women put on that uniform every day to do the right thing,” he said.
Police and the community mixed at Ada Bible Church on East Paris Avenue as part of the City of Kentwood’s National Night Out celebration. (WKTV/K.D. Norris)
Police and the community mixed at Ada Bible Church on East Paris Avenue as part of the City of Kentwood’s National Night Out celebration. (WKTV/K.D. Norris)
Police and the community mixed at Ada Bible Church on East Paris Avenue as part of the City of Kentwood’s National Night Out celebration. (WKTV/K.D. Norris)
Police and the community mixed at Ada Bible Church on East Paris Avenue as part of the City of Kentwood’s National Night Out celebration. (WKTV/K.D. Norris)
Police and the community mixed at Ada Bible Church on East Paris Avenue as part of the City of Kentwood’s National Night Out celebration. (WKTV/K.D. Norris)
Police and the community mixed at Ada Bible Church on East Paris Avenue as part of the City of Kentwood’s National Night Out celebration. (WKTV/K.D. Norris)
Police and the community mixed at Ada Bible Church on East Paris Avenue as part of the City of Kentwood’s National Night Out celebration. (WKTV/K.D. Norris)
The City of Kentwood’s National Night Out community celebration this week had police and other city personal at more than 15 locations throughout the city, but events at three local churches clearly showed a shared desire to engage the community after a long period of pandemic distancing.
On the evening of Aug. 3, at Ada Bible Church on East Paris Avenue — which along with Faith Baptist Church and Pentecostals Church on 44th Street hosted special large scale events — Kentwood Police Chief Richard Roberts and Ada Bible pastor Jason Ross talked to WKTV about their shared focus on the community.
Kentwood police Chief Richard Roberts and Ada Bible Church Pastor Jason Ross, at the church’s National Night Out event. (WKTV/K.D. Norris)
“What we share, is we desire to connect with the community in a positive way,” pastor Ross said. “We can do that as a church. We can also do that with the people, within Ada Bible Church, as well as in the community. … We want you to feel like you are welcome here.”
Chief Roberts also talked about the shared focus and the great opportunity of interacting with the community at local churches.
“We are privileged to be invited to Ada Bible Church … This just gives us a great opportunity, especially given this past year, for us to all come out and celebrate in a special way on National Night Out,” Chief Roberts said.
McGruff and a future Detroit Lions fan had a moment at Woodland Mall. (WKTV/K.D. Norris)
The City of Kentwood was truly bustling with block parties, neighborhood events and other activities — including a special presence at Woodland Mall — on National Night Out, a nationwide annual event that “promotes community-police partnerships and neighborhood camaraderie to make communities safer.”
Kentwood police officers, firefighters and city leaders joined residents, who had the opportunity to explore police cruisers, fire engines and other emergency response vehicles at events, as well as learn about a variety of safety topics.
“Positive interactions with residents are invaluable for fostering strong community relationships and safer neighborhoods,” Chief Roberts previously said in supplied material. “National Night Out creates a wonderful opportunity to bring officers and community members together in a fun and relaxing setting. Members of our department always look forward to getting to know residents better and encourage more open lines of communication.”
National Night Out was created in the 1980s through an established network of law enforcement agencies, neighborhood watch groups, crime prevention associations and volunteers across the nation. It began with a goal to promote safer, better neighborhoods by uniting community members and police against neighborhood crimes.
“Democracy is about voting and it’s about a majority vote. And it’s time that we started exercising the Democratic process.”
Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow
Voters at the voting booth. (Photo by Jeff Miller/UW-Madison)
Voting in Kentwood and Wyoming
There will be contested primary elections happening in both Kentwood and Wyoming, with a Kentwood City Commission race possibly settled, and local Democrats and Republicans set to decide who from their part will be on the ballot for a State Senate seat up for final vote in the fall. Go here for the story.
National Night Out is all about getting people out and mixing with local public service employees including police and firefighters. (NATA.org)
Night out in Kentwood
The City of Kentwood will be bustling with block parties, neighborhood events and other activities as part of the city-and-community celebration of National Night Out, a nationwide annual event that “promotes community-police partnerships and neighborhood camaraderie to make communities safer.” Go here for the story.
Night out in Wyoming
A change for this year’s Wyoming National Night Out event will be that the city will host two main sites — Grand Rapids First, 2100 44th St. SW, and Grace Christian University, 1011 Alden St. SW. Both locations will be open from 5 to 7 p.m. Go here for the story.
Fun fact:
71
Number of cities in Michigan which have registered to be involved in National Night Out. Source.
“It is basically our Super Bowl,” said Wyoming Officer Jenni Eby as she described National Night Out, which will take place Tuesday, Aug. 3.
“It is a nice opportunity for us to be able to focus on the people and the connection between the police and the community,” Eby said.
Give me five: A residents gives a Wyoming police officer a high-five. (WKTV)
Always the first Tuesday in August, National Night Out is a nationwide event that encourages residents to turn their porch lights on and come out and meet their neighbors. With last year’s pandemic, the event was cancelled.
“We are excited about seeing people especially since it has been more than a year,” Eby said.
A change for this year’s Wyoming event will be that the city will host two main sites, Grand Rapids First, 2100 44th St. SW, and Grace Christian University, 1011 Alden St. SW. Both locations will be open from 5 to 7 p.m.
“Our community service officers work very closely with the neighborhood associations over the years and this is something they wanted to try on a trial basis this year.” said Wyoming Department of Public Safety Chief Kim Koster during a recent council meeting. “They wanted to be able to bring all of our resources together and to have two big parties where people can come and enjoy all the services.
“Sometimes, say our K9 unit, they don’t have the time to make it to all 15 parties, so there are people who don’t get to see the K9 unit or get to see the motorcycle unit.”
By hosting the two larger events, it is the hope that these parties will have “a bigger splash,” allowing the Public Safety Department to have a greater reach and connect with more residents, Koster said.
Neighborhoods can still host individual events, she said, adding that if they reach out to the department, officers will see what they can do to have someone from the department stop by.
Eby said that the department’s resources will be split between the two locations.
“There will be K9s at both locations, as well motorcycles and other vehicles,” she said. “The tactical truck will be splitting its time between the two locations as there is only one.”
Basically, residents attending either location, GR First or Grace Christian University, will be able to see all that the Wyoming Department of Public Safety has available.
Flashing lights: Residents check out a Wyoming police car during a past National Night Out event. (WKTV)
Eby said there will be tables at both locations providing information on a variety of safety programs, such as:
Smart 911: With landlines, it was easy to determine where a call was being made. Cell phones make it much harder to know the location of the emergency. Through Smart 911, residents can create a free, secure profile that dispatch operators can call up to help police and rescue personal get to a person faster.
OK2SAY: This is a student safety program that operates similar to Silent Observer in that students are able to confidentially report tips on potential harm or criminal activities.
Stop the Bleed: A program that teaches people how to help those who are severely bleeding while waiting for first responders.
All sides within the Kent County courts’ criminal trials system know that after more than a 18 months of a pandemic-related pause of in-person trials there will be issues as courts slowly resume a courtroom calendar — most especially a backlog of criminal and civil cases awaiting trial, a backlog that could take more than a year to clear.
All Kent County courts handing criminal trials — from the cities of Wyoming and Kentwood’s smaller 62A and 62B district courts, to the larger countywide 63rd District and 17th Circuit courts — are now scheduling trials.
Kentwood’s 62B recently reported it held its first in-person trial in June and currently has a dozen or so scheduled through the end of the year — “We have a slight back log of cases waiting trial … All other hearings are current at 62B District Court,” a spokesperson for Judge Amanda Sterkenburg’s office told WKTV.
The 63rd District Court, however, will not begin criminal trials until mid-August, and their backlog could stretch out well into 2022 before a “sense of normal” returns, a situation most larger courts across the state are facing.
63rd district court Judge Sara J. Smolenski (Kent County)
“What is a sense of normal in the court system, that is a good question,” 63rd district court Judge Sara J. Smolenski said to WKTV. “Obviously, the pandemic has taken its toll on every aspect of our lives. Here at the Court, we are working daily to have things be more normal or resume to normal, but it is constantly evolving. A good guess would hopefully be by the end of 2021.”
While Judge Smolenski is, maybe, optimistic about the backlog, the leaders of the two criminal trial lawyer groups often in opposition in the courtroom — the Kent County Prosecutor’s Office and Kent County Office of the Defender — are not so optimistic.
“It will take at least a year to get back to ‘normal’ in my estimation,” Prosecutor Chris Becker said to WKTV. “There is such a backlog of cases, while adding new ones through all of this, there just is not an easy and fast way to catch up. It is going to take time to work through all of them.”
“Misdemeanors (in District Court) are a little better positioned for returning to normal sooner than felonies in Circuit Court,” Chris Dennie, Director, Kent County Office of the Defender, said to WKTV. “Even though there is quite a backlog, I can see getting close to usual in about a year.”
In general, the Kent County District Court system handles trials of civil suits involving $25,000 or less, and adult criminal misdemeanor offenses punishable by up to one year’s imprisonment. The Kent County Circuit Court is the trial court in all civil cases involving more than $25,000, in all criminal cases where the offense is a felony or a serious misdemeanor, as well as all domestic relations cases, and all child abuse, neglect, and delinquency cases.
No shortcuts in criminal cases during pandemic
All sides in the county’s legal system also make clear that while judges and opposing lowers have been “creative” is handling cases during the pandemic, nothing has been done to simply push cases through.
“Every case is dealt with on an individual basis,” Judge Smolenski said. “The right to a speedy trial is very important, but no one has ever been through a pandemic like this where for many months you couldn’t bring jurors together for a case. Defense attorneys and prosecutors are working together to resolve the cases that can be resolved.”
Prosecutor Becker and Defender Dennie might argue that judicial point, however.
“The judges have tried to encourage resolving cases throughout the pause in jury trials,” Dennie said. “However, the prosecutors (both county and city) must be willing and the offices have made it clear they do not want to have what they call a “fire sale” on cases. There has been some work to resolve cases, but not enough to make a big difference.”
“I’ve told my staff to know and go over their cases and make the best possible offer they can, without violating the norms of what we do,” Becker said. “I’m sure if I offered a misdemeanor larceny $200-1,000 to someone charged with an armed robbery felony, they would take that deal. We could ‘catch up’ the docket pretty quick that way. We are not going to do that however; we still have to consider plea offers in relationship to long term public safety and the victims who were impacted by the crime.
“We have done things around the edges more, we have given more sentence recommendations perhaps, but nothing extreme. Judges have gotten involved more as well in this area.”
Backlog not only problem awaiting return to ‘normal’
Two other issues which could come into play with the resumption of jury trials after about 18-months is the as-yet resolved issue of defendants not gaining a “speedy” trial during and of a possible reluctance of citizen jurors returning to their civic duties live and in the courtrooms.
Becker, however, does not think the denial of a speedy trial will be a big issue, but he does hedge his bets a bit.
The idea “has been raised in other places, and I’m sure it will be brought up again. So I can’t say it is a settled part of the law at all,” Becker said. “I’m not sure how successful it will be however, when you had the (State of Michigan) Supreme Court saying trials were not allowed for a large portion of the pandemic. It is fairly unprecedented, but not sure how you can hold a trial when being told not do by the people who run the court system to some extent.”
However, when it comes to the issue of juror reluctance, Judge Smolenski, Prosecutor Becker and Defender Dennie each expressed concern.
“It has been the jury trials, wherein we were prohibited from having groups of jurors in the courtroom, that has become our biggest focus to resolve,” Judge Smolenski said.
“Not sure (but) hearing reports in other areas of larger amount of jurors not showing up when summoned when things re-started,” Becker said. There is “still fear out there, and people may not want to show up in a public area when ordered to. So it will be interesting to see how jurors respond when called to serve.”
And that possible lack of ‘a jury of peers” is particularly of concern to Defender Dennie.
“Defense attorneys have been very concerned about getting a fair and true cross section of the community for the jury pools,” Dennie said. “I’ve been told that in practice, so far, as they send out jury summons, very few people are asking to be released. So we remain concerned, but hopeful, that our clients are able to have fair juries.
The City of Kentwood’s 62-B District Court announced this week that it has implemented an Alternative Dispute Resolution plan that “will allow community members to resolve certain disputes outside the courtroom through mediation and other facilitated processes.”
The court implemented its Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) plan to reduce client costs, produce more timely resolutions and increase satisfaction with the justice system, according to the announcement. The plan lays out a process for determining which cases are appropriate for mediation and how mediators are appointed.
Mediation was previously available for the 62-B District Court’s small claims cases in partnership with the Dispute Resolution Center of West Michigan. With the ADR plan now in place, mediation is even more accessible, “so disputes can be resolved in the most efficient way and with the most satisfaction,” according to the announcement.
Mediation involves a trained third-party individual who works with litigants to resolve disagreements outside the courtroom and reach a mutually acceptable resolution. Mediation is often scheduled and completed quicker than court cases and does not require litigants to pay attorney fees, according to the announcement.
62-B District Court Judge Amanda Sterkenburg. (Supplied)
“Court cases involve a significant financial and emotional investment,” 62-B District Court Judge Amanda Sterkenburg said in supplied material. “I am proud the 62-B District Court is offering this plan as a way to save time and money for those seeking resolution, preserve relationships and help each party walk away more satisfied.
“Another beneficial aspect of ADR is each party gets the opportunity to have their voice heard in a safe and neutral environment. Being able to express themselves empowers the parties to work past the conflict and seek resolution.”
In collaboration with the Dispute Resolution Center of West Michigan, mediation is a routine part of the 62-B District Court pre-trial process.
If a case is referred for mediation, the court’s ADR clerk will send a letter to the parties to let them know they can use the Dispute Resolution Center or select a private mediator by agreement.
According to the court announcement, mediation also helps “minimize disparities in power, where one party may be represented by counsel, but the other party is not. Mediators are specifically trained in these nuances to make sure the balance of power is fair when parties are negotiating and bargaining. Mediation can preserve or restore relationships by overcoming misunderstandings and improving communication between parties.”
The ADR plan was designed to be used in conjunction with facilitators who understand how diversity may affect a dispute and use processes that are designed to overcome barriers to find common ground.
“The best ADR outcomes are reached when varying perspectives are taken into consideration,” Sterkenburg said. “The 62-B District Court remains committed to acknowledging diverse cultures, values and socioeconomic statuses within disputes. We see each perspective in the room as equally valid and we use well-trained mediators and interpreters to reach optimal resolutions.”
Parties are encouraged to pursue any form of ADR if they believe it will assist them in resolving the dispute. The court intends to refer appropriate summary proceedings and civil cases such as breach of contract, property disputes and debt collection to mediation. Sterkenburg will oversee the implementation of the new plan and the mediator selection process.
On the latest episode of WKTV Journal In Focus, Kent County Sheriff Michelle LaJoye-Young says what’s on her mind on a wide range of subjects, from her office’s response time to incidents, how it handles those incidents, and how the staff — all of the staff — of the Kent County Correctional Facility excelled in this time of pandemic.
In May, her office presented a report to the county Board of Commissioners detailing the results of its yearly Performance Measurements Review — covering a period of time almost exclusively falling within the period of the COVID-19 pandemic. Including among the measurements are the Sheriff’s office’s response time for both the 911 dispatch and deputies patrolling the roads, the department’s community engagement efforts, and the percentage of contacts resulting in use of force.
On the WKTV set, we talk with the Sheriff about those performance measurements, about what’s new in her department including the roll-out of body cameras, and — taking a cue from the current public scrutinization of law enforcement actions on the streets — we ask about her policy of de-escalation of citizen/deputy incidents and her opinion of law enforcement officers being granted qualified immunity from civil lawsuits.
WKTV Journal In Focus airs on cable television in the Wyoming and Kentwood areas on Comcast WKTV Channel 26 and on AT&T Channel 99 Government channel (For dates and times on Channel 26, see our Weekly On-air Schedule. For dates and times on Channel 99, visit here). All individual interviews included in episodes of WKTV Journal In Focus are also available on YouTube at WKTVvideos.
The Kentwood Place Department’s Traffic Services Bureau launched a safety campaign during the 2019-20 school year partially focused on Kentwood, Kelloggsville, and Forest Hills school buses when students were boarding and departing. (City of Kentwood)
By K.D. Norris
ken@wktv.org
The City of Kentwood announced last week that the Kentwood Police Department has received the 2020 Outstanding Traffic Achievement Award from the Governor’s Traffic Safety Advisory Commission in recognition of its school safety campaign.
The GTSAC honors organizations, programs and individuals for outstanding contributions to traffic safety, according to supplied material. The virtual awards ceremony is scheduled for Thursday, May 27.
“We are grateful to the state for this high honor, which is a reflection of our department’s ongoing commitment to increasing traffic safety and our Traffic Services Bureau’s hard work to help make school zones safer for students and drivers,” Kentwood Police Chief Richard Roberts said in supplied material.
The Traffic Services Bureau includes one sergeant, three traffic specialists and one police cadet. The team’s primary responsibility is to enforce traffic laws. Other services include abandoned vehicle follow-ups, salvaged vehicle inspections, traffic engineering studies, speed monitoring and accident investigations.
The police department’s Traffic Services Bureau launched a safety campaign during the 2019-20 school year that provided dedicated personnel to monitor and enforce residential speed limits near schools on 60th Street SE and whether drivers stopped for Kentwood, Kelloggsville, and Forest Hills school buses when students were boarding and departing.
The police department had received complaints about drivers speeding in properly posted school zones and not stopping for buses when their red flashers were on, according to supplied material.
The initiative started in October 2019 and ended early in March 2020 due to school closures as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nearly 184 personnel hours were dedicated to the five-month campaign, which yielded 428 school speed zone violations and 31 school bus violations.
This enforcement resulted in an 800 percent increase for school speed zone violations and a 300 percent jump in school bus violations from the previous school year. Fifty-one school speed zone violations and 10 school bus violations were issued in 2018-19.
During the first month of the campaign, 93 school speed zone violations were issued. That number peaked at 104 in February 2020 before dropping to 31 in the final month.
“This was a successful effort that changed behaviors and garnered positive feedback from our community, with many parents stopping to thank our officers,” Chief Roberts said.
The safety campaign encompassed Kentwood, Kelloggsville and Forest Hills schools. It resumed in October 2020 and went through December, resulting in four school speed violations and eight school bus violations.
More information about the Kentwood Police Department is available at kentwood.us/police.
This last weekend, reacting to Michigan’s Clean Slate Act coming into initial effect on April 11, two expungement resource fairs were held in West Michigan — “expungement” is the setting aside of a person’s record of criminal convictions for certain “lower level” crimes including older marijuana possessions offenses no longer even considered crimes.
The expungement resources fairs, held in Grand Rapids and Benton Harbor, are part of a wide-ranging series of actions being taken as part of the state’s criminal justice reform, specifically the Clean Slate Act, with actions by groups ranging from the office of Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II, to Western Michigan University’s Cooley Law School, to the Black & Brown Cannabis Guild.
A photo from a previous Clean Slate Act expungement resource event promotional material. (Black & Brown Cannabis Guild)
“At both (expungement resource) events, volunteer attorneys and law students will assist registrants who appear to be eligible with filling out their expungement applications and give them general instructions on the expungement process,” Kamau Sandiford, a Kentwood based lawyer serving as WMU-Cooley’s Access to Justice staff attorney, said to WKTV before the events.
The resource fairs were co-hosted by the Black & Brown Cannabis Guild, a group which, among on other advocacy efforts, seeks to gain cleared criminal records for persons imprisoned for crimes related to outdated cannabis laws.
“As the United States moves away from the criminalization of cannabis … there remains the fundamental injustice inflicted upon those who have suffered criminal convictions and the consequences of those convictions,” as the guild states on its Last Prisoner Project webpage.
Even before the expungement resource fairs, Sandiford and WMU-Cooley Law School associate dean Tracey Brame have been hosting training sessions for attorneys on the new law including for the the Grand Rapids Bar Association and Legal Aid’s Spring Training Session early this year.
During the presentation, according to the WMU-Cooley website, Sandiford explained that under the new law, the state will be required to have an automated expungement program in place by April 2023.
That “automated expungement” system is, however, a cause of some concern from Kent County’s top criminal prosecutor.
“The Prosecuting Attorney’s Association of Michigan was generally supportive of the Clean Slate bills,” Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker said to WKTV. “If someone has truly reformed their life and are doing well after past criminal convictions we did not see a problem in giving them a chance to have a clear record.
“If anything is wrong with it, I think the idea that we are going to have a computer system that is going to be able to ‘automatically’ clean convictions off records in two years is highly unlikely,” Becker continued. “The state is littered with computer programs/systems that were supposed to be developed and operational in a certain time, that took much longer than anticipated and never worked as promised. I fear something similar will happen here.”
Despite such concerns, the law will came into effect and the state is already working on a pilot program to aid people who have been hampered in their employment opportunities due to their past convictions and employers being able to gain access to such records.
Law’s history and state interim action
While Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed the “Clean Slate” bill package into law in October of 2020, the efforts to move it forward started much earlier, driven in part by studies that showed not only the individuals involved but society as a whole benefits from such actions.
According to the state’s Michigan Courts website expungement “can help more people have the opportunity to find good jobs and secure safe and affordable housing. A ‘clean slate’ can help strengthen families, communities, local economies across the state, and promote public safety.”
Also, a 2020 study by two University of Michigan Law School professors found that those whose criminal records are set aside experience “a sharp upturn in their wage and employment trajectories.” The study stated that job seekers obtained employment at an increase of 11 percent and their income rose by 25 percent in two years.
And the state is not waiting for 2023, for the automated process to come into effect, to start aiding those persons with criminal records to better gain employment.
Last week, the state announced the launch of a $4 million investment in a “Clean Slate Pilot” program to assist “returning citizens” — convicted persons returning to the community and the workforce — with setting aside a conviction, through which the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity (LEO) will awards funds to Michigan Works! Agencies to support local workforce efforts until the expungement system is in place.
“My goal since day one of taking office has been to build fundamental reforms to make our communities safer and improve the people’s outcomes going through our criminal justice system,” Lt. Gov. Gilchrist said in supplied material. “The bipartisan Clean Slate legislation fundamentally changed Michigan’s criminal history expungement laws, for the better … (and) the Clean Slate Pilot program offers a stop-gap for expungement services until the Clean Slate law goes into effect.”
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signing “Clean Slate” bill package into law on October 12, 2020. Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II is in b background. (Office of the Governor)
As part of the pilot program, returning citizens can get an order setting aside their conviction and, according to the state announcement, “can legally state on any job or school application that they have never been convicted of or arrested for that crime.”
They will also be able to state that they have not been convicted of that crime on applications for public benefits, housing or employment.
“Before this legislation and this pilot program, there were many barriers in place for returning citizens,” Susan Corbin, LEO director, said in supplied material. “These barriers to seeking criminal record expungement include a lack of information, time constraints, cost of retaining a private attorney and fear of the criminal justice system. With the Clean Slate Pilot program, Michigan Works! Agencies will help these citizens overcome many of these barriers and guide them on a path to success.”
The Clean Slate Pilot Program funding will be awarded to all 16 Michigan Works! Agencies throughout the state with each of the agencies providing localized efforts.
For more information on the Clean Slate pilot program, visit here. To contact the local Michigan Works! office visit westmiworks.org.
Details of Clean Slate Act eligibility
Setting aside a conviction is the process that clears a public criminal record. In Michigan, there is one process to set aside a conviction on an adult record — often called expungement — and a different process to set aside a juvenile conviction, called an adjudication.
In WMU-Cooley promotional material for the recent expungement fairs, it was explained that individuals will be eligible for expungement after a waiting period of 10 years for certain felonies, or seven years for certain misdemeanors. Most traffic offenses will be available for expungement except DUIs, offenses causing injury or death, and offenses while operating a commercial vehicle.
Additionally, those who qualify for automatic expungement can have no more than two felonies and four 93-day misdemeanors expunged during their lifetime.
The Clean Slate Act also specifically allows individuals convicted of low-level misdemeanor marijuana offenses to apply for expungement, as “the law creates a presumption that these offenses were based on activities that would not have been considered crimes on or after Dec. 6, 2018.”
Crimes that will not be considered for automatic expungement include, according to supplied material, “assaultive crimes; serious misdemeanors; crimes of dishonesty; offenses punishable by 10 or more years imprisonment; violations related to human trafficking; and crimes committed against minors, vulnerable adults, injury or serious impairment, or death.”
City of Kentwood Police Chief Richard Roberts, as part of a discussion on WKTV Journal In Focus, talked about the changes in police vehicle camera technology — which at one point was dashboard cameras and VCRs in the trunk. (WKTV)
The City of Kentwood Police Department prides itself on not only its transparency and accountably but also its community interaction and involvement. So, when Kentwood’s top police official, Chief Richard Roberts, visited WKTV Journal In Focus recently the conversation ranged from plans for expanded officer body camera use to working with local employees to help local restaurants and patrons.
In early March, the City of Kentwood announced its police department would equip its entire force with body cameras in an effort to enhance both accountably and transparency during community interactions. Chief Roberts detailed the program, its needs and goals, training and department protocol for use, and how body cameras are equally good for the community as they are for police officers.
(For a previous WKTV Journal In Focus interviews with Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker and Sheriff Michelle LaJoye-Young which included discussion of the use of law enforcement body cameras, visit Becker’s discussion here and LaJoye-Young’s discussion here.)
Additionally, in our interview with Chief Roberts, he discussed programs such as pop-up events in support of local restaurants and customers, as well as the planned Kentwood Police Youth Academy.
WKTV Journal In Focus airs on cable television in the Wyoming and Kentwood areas on Comcast WKTV Channel 26 and on AT&T Channel 99 Government channel (For dates and times on Channel 26, see our Weekly On-air Schedule. For dates and times on Channel 99, visit here). All individual interviews included in episodes of WKTV Journal In Focus are also available on YouTube at WKTVvideos.
In March, Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker gave a Performance Measurements Review to a committee of the county Board of Commissioners. While some of the review was mostly statistics and governmental detail, we at WKTV thought it an opportunity to get the county’s top attorney in to discuss a wide range of his office’s activities — including its goals, accomplishments and challenges.
In addition to his report to the Board of Commissioners, the county’s top attorney discussed how the current pandemic has impacted the state of the county’s criminal courts, last year and into the future. And, given the news of the day out of a Minneapolis courtroom, we got his take on the value of video evidence in criminal trials — are police body cameras or public cell phone video good witnesses?
WKTV Journal In Focus airs on cable television in the Wyoming and Kentwood areas on Comcast WKTV Channel 26 and on AT&T Channel 99 Government channel (For dates and times on Channel 26, see our Weekly On-air Schedule. For dates and times on Channel 99, visit here). All individual interviews included in episodes of WKTV Journal In Focus are also available on YouTube at WKTVvideos.
A City of Kentwood Police Department officer shows police car controls and features to participants during a lesson about traffic stops, from the Kentwood Police Department’s 2019 Youth Academy. (City of Kentwood)
The City of Kentwood Police Department knows that local youth often consider the field of law enforcement to be something they might want to pursue after graduation, but they also know that those same youth might not really know what the career field is all about.
The Kentwood Police Department’s Youth Academy, currently accepting applications for this year’s academy scheduled for July, gives those youth that “first-hand” knowledge.
The academy allows “them to just come in and see what it is like to be a police officer, to be involved with some of the training, some of the scenarios,” Kentwood Police Chief Richard Roberts said to WKTV during a recent visit to our studios. “We think that is important to offer that to individuals who might be considering law enforcement.”
Chief Roberts also pointed out that “we are offering (the academy) to any high schooler — they don’t have to be a Kentwood high schooler — as long as they are graduating this year, or they will be (a returning high school student next year) …, if they are interested in law enforcement.”
This year’s four-day program will take place Monday to Thursday, July 26-29, and is open to all graduating seniors and students who will be a sophomore, junior or senior in the 2021-22 school year. Applications are due May 14.
The free program will run 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day at the Kentwood Police Department, 4742 Walma Ave. SE, with COVID-19 safety precautions in place, according to a statement from the City of Kentwood.
Students will experience a wide-range of police training activities including traffic stops, drunken driving enforcement, building searches, subject control and handcuffing, as well as tactics of the Special Response Team.
Eligible participants “must possess good moral character and pass a background check,” according to the statement. They will be interviewed before being accepted into the program and will be required to attend a pre-academy informational meeting with a parent or guardian. Each participant will be provided a uniform and daily lunch.
To participate, students must contact Sgt. Tim Wierenga for an initial screening and application at wierengat@kentwood.us or 616-656-6561. Applications may be delivered in person at the Kentwood Police Department or by mail to Sgt. Wierenga at 4742 Walma Ave. SE, Kentwood, MI 49512. Applications are available online here.
The City of Kentwood has announced that the Kentwood Police Department is introducing a body camera program that will include the training and outfitting of all officers with the new technology.
While the department has had in-car cameras since 2000 and some body cameras since 2016, the new program, according to a March 22 statement, is “an effort to enhance accountability and transparency.”
The Kentwood City Commission recently approved a five-year contract with Axon, the largest body camera provider in the U.S., for the equipment and technology. The annual cost for the equipment and technology will be $117,000, according to the statement.
Kentwood Police Department Chief Richard Roberts. (Supplied)
“The Kentwood Police Department has consistently placed great emphasis on community engagement, accountability and transparency,” Kentwood Police Chief Richard Roberts said in supplied material. “With the implementation of this technology, we can build on those efforts to continue to serve our community with excellence and grow trust. We know the trust of our community can only be earned by impartiality and fairness in daily policing functions and outreach to engage and educate the community.”
The Kentwood Police Department has 71 sworn officers serving a community of approximately 51,000 residents “through a variety of programs and community engagement efforts.”
The body camera program, according to the statement, is part of the department’s “longtime commitment to accountability and transparency in order to achieve its mission to reduce serious crime, increase traffic safety and serve the community with excellence.”
The department plans to have all the department’s officers trained and issue them body cameras by the end of May.
“This technology is beneficial for our community and our police officers,” Chief Roberts said. “It serves as another tool to ensure the safety and security of our community and the residents we serve. The Kentwood Police Department appreciates Mayor Kepley and the city commissioners in supporting the department’s goal in implementing this technology.”
KPD joins eight other Kent County agencies that have implemented or are in the process of implementing body cameras.
A tradition of community engagement
The Kentwood Police Department, according to the statement, utilizes a variety of programs and engagement efforts to “strengthen relationships with the community, address immediate needs and ensure safety.”
Operation P.R.I.C.E. was launched in 2014 by the Kentwood Police Department in an effort to curb retail theft along the 28th Street corridor. (Supplied)
The department uses resident satisfaction surveys and continually reviews its policies, procedures, tactics and techniques to ensure all align with federal and state legal standards, as well as best practices in the profession. These include trainings several times a year on multiple tactics and techniques for various types of interactions with community members, and annual review of agency practices.
Among its existing and on-going efforts are:
— A data-driven approach to crime and traffic safety program that integrates location-based crime and traffic data to establish effective and efficient methods for deploying law enforcement and other resources. The goal is to reduce the incidence of crime, crashes and traffic violations in the community.
— An interactive crime mapping portal that further fosters awareness of crimes and builds trust through transparency. Data is automated daily, allowing residents to stay up to date with incidents that occur in their neighborhoods.
— A school resource officer program that is a partnership between KPD, the community and schools to reduce crime, increase security and promote a positive role model between youth and law enforcement. KPD has three dedicated certified police officers assigned to specific school districts in the city.
— Operation P.R.I.C.E., the Preventing Retail Theft Through Initiative, Collaboration and Enforcement, which since 2014 has helped local businesses decrease incidents of retail fraud.
— Drug Take Back program, which provides community members with a free and secure location to safely dispose of unused and/or unwanted prescription medications. This reduces potential accidental poisoning, misuse and overdose.
— Participation in community events such as National Night Out, Touch-A-Truck and Trunk-or-Treat to “build meaningful relationships with residents.” Officers also attend Neighborhood Watch meetings to provide crime and safety information and strengthen community relations.
More information about the Kentwood Police Department is available at kentwood.us/police.
When Kim Koster started her college career, her plans did not include going into law enforcement much less becoming the chief of the Wyoming Department of Public Safety.
Chief Kim Koster
“When I started at Grand Rapids Junior College, and back then it was a junior college, I was in interested in teaching,” Koster said during a recent interview with WKTV. “But then I took a criminal justice class and I found it intriguing, and, at the same time, I was working out at a local gym and my instructor for aerobics was a Wyoming police officer.”
About 15 percent of the sworn on-duty officers are women with about one percent serving as head of their departments. It makes Kent County unique in that in many of its law enforcement agencies, women are leads in various departments with Koster and Kent County Sheriff Michelle LaJoye-Young, heading up two of the county’s three largest law enforcement departments.
“I grew up on the east side of the state,” LaJoye-Young said. “My father worked for the Shiawassee County Sheriff’s Department and became the sheriff. I remember going to restaurants and community events and everyone would come up and talk to him about issues they were having and I just loved how he could pour into their lives and the community.”
Kent County Sheriff Michelle LaJoye-Young
With that desire to serve the community, but not work for her father, LaJoye-Young moved to West Michigan and joined the Kent County Sheriff’s Department in 1989. Koster joined the Wyoming Department of Public Safety in 1996.
Throughout their careers, neither woman had the goal of eventually becoming chief or sheriff, but rather to simply do their best.
“It was never anything that I aspired to,” Koster said. “Things happened in my career where doors opened or a door was cracked and I decided I was going to take the opportunity to walk through and that is what I encourage other women to do.
“I think sometimes we don’t see those doors or we are afraid to walk through them and I just decided I would walk through it and see what would happen and I think even the day I was promoted chief, I was still a little surprised at myself that I had taken that role on.”
In the 1900s, the Portland Oregon Police Department swore in the first female officer. Lola Baldwin.
The history of women in law enforcement dates back to the mid-1800s with women serving as matrons in New York City jails. Widows of police officers were hired by departments to work with women and children and one of the first persons to do so was Marie Owens who was hired in 1891 by the Chicago Police Department. The beginning of the 1900s, the Portland Oregon Police Department swore in the first female officer, Lola Baldwin.
However it was not until the Civil Rights Act passed in 1971 that women’s roles in law enforcement expanded and helping the perception that women were cable to serve were such shows as “Policewomen” and “Charlie’s Angels.”
“I focused everyday at being a leader in whatever group I was working within…,” LaJoye-Young said. “Making sure I was always putting my best foot forward, doing the right thing for the right reasons and advocating for others if I was in a position to do so and I think when you are working in that way leadership positions kind of naturally happen.”
Koster or LaJoye-Young wouldn’t deny there have not been challenges, but more so from the overall actions and reactions to law enforcement.
“I thought it was just so important what we were doing and for women to be involved in policing,” Koster said. “I just knew there was a reason for us to be there and I knew that people were really being responsive to women in policing and developing good relationships with the public.”
With LaJoye-Young adding that the importance of having someone like you when faced with a situation remains a key benefit in helping to resolve problems.
“The more variety you have on your police department or sheriff’s department the more prepared you are to deal with the circumstances that you are faced with,” LaJoye-Young said. “Law enforcement changes so quickly and is so dynamic and there is such a variety of things. There are some places that a female is more successful. There are some places that somebody of color is more successful.”
The key is having that “heart to serve,” Koster said, adding it is what she looks for when talking to a potential candidate. Someone who can listen and show empathy, she said, adding that she encourages people interested in the profession to reach out to their local law enforcement agency to talk to officers in the field. There are also several places that offer criminal justice programs such as the Kent Career Tech Center (for high school students) and numerous colleges such as Grand Rapids Community College. Local departments like the Kent County Sheriff’s Department and the Wyoming Department of Public Safety also have cadet and internship programs.
“I feel like law enforcement in general is at the beginning of a very dynamic change,” LaJoye-Young said. “I think you are going to see a lot of things in law enforcement really go in a different direction in the next decade or so. There couldn’t be a better time to get into law enforcement to be part of that progress, to be part of that adaption.”
“Last year certainly brought its challenges (to the Kent District Library system), but we never allowed those challenges to stop us from serving our communities – our impact continued. Our branches were closed for a time, but the library never closed.”
KDL Executive Director Lance Werner
(pxhere.com)
The COVID-19 vaccine is coming for a wider population
The Kent County Health Department this week was notified by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services that the state is expanding vaccination eligibility — including beginning March 22 expanding vaccine eligibility to include all Michiganders 50 years of age and older. Go here for the story.
Despite the pandemic, local lead exposure battle continues
The pandemic has shut down many things, but not the efforts of Kent County and its partners to identify and reduce lead exposure in the community — a serious health hazard especially for children before, during and unfortunately likely to continue after COVID-19. The health department issues a report this week. Go here for the story.
Wyoming City Council debates funding of Kent County Dispatch
While recognizing the accomplishments of the Kent Country Dispatch, the Wyoming City Council this week expressed concern over the funding of the dispatch authority and decided to only approve a one-year renewal agreement for dispatch services at the council’s Monday night meeting. Go here for the story.
(Not so) Fun fact:
33,000 county households without the internet
According to the United States Census Bureau, approximately 33,000 households in Kent County do not have a broadband internet subscription. But Kent County, the City of Kentwood, and others are working on the problem. Read the story here.
