RESOURCES:
Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office
TRANSCRIPTION:
Caroline MacGregor: You're listening to 89.1 WEMU. I'm Caroline MacGregor. And my guest today is Ypsilanti Police Chief Tim Anderson. We're going to be talking about his goals moving forward in his new position. But Chief Anderson was appointed to the position of chief actually just over a month ago. And he was serving as interim police chief from January. Welcome to the show, Chief Anderson!
Tim Anderson: Thank you, Caroline! Thanks for having me!
Caroline MacGregor: How has your first month gone?
Tim Anderson: First month has been...no day has been the same, right? It's has not been a dull moment. One thing we've been focusing on in this first month is just continuing to try to stabilize the operation. And in February this year, we reestablished our detective bureau. We also sent several officers training in the area of crime scene management for evidence technicians. We've been working to redevelop policy. We've had a uniform change that was agreed upon by the staff. So, we've had lot of initiatives that we've tried to work through in the department, but also focusing on our community engagement. You know, I've spent a lot of time listening to the community really since being interim chief and been able to get a lot of feedback. So, this year, we ran a community survey. Roughly, we were approaching 90 days, and we're going to report out on that survey next month. But I'm looking to make that type of survey more annual, so we can always have opportunity to get feedback from the community on the delivery of our services.
Caroline MacGregor: What have been the main problems that the police department in Ypsilanti has faced? You talk about stabilization. What do you mean by that?
Tim Anderson: Well, one issue for us is hiring. It's been an obstacle, if you will, for this department since, I believe, I entered it almost 13 years ago. But the nation is facing a hiring crisis as it relates to law enforcement. So, we have been focused on hiring, but we also want to hire individuals with a guardian mindset, not with a warrior mindset, and who truly want to work and serve this population. We really want to focus on retaining our talent. I mean, one way we're going to do that is we're trying to just be strategic. We want to create a better work-life balance that has been in operation at this department during my time. So, we're trying to focus and give the officers a little more ownership because we believe if we create a culture internally where people feel welcome and this is an inclusive environment, that's going to translate to the services that are delivered in the community. The hiring and retention part has been a major focus of mine because we've got to get the right people here. And then, we've got to take steps to keep them, right? And that's also through competitive collective bargaining, work schedules. Once we get them in the door, we've got to keep them here.
Caroline MacGregor: I was just going to ask you how do you go about attracting and retaining because it has been a difficult issue. You mentioned some of the criteria, but do you feel like you will overcome this obstacle and actually attract more police to the department?
Tim Anderson: I'm optimistic. We're getting applications in. We get interest in the department. But we want to make sure we get the right people who actually want to be here for the right reasons and serve this community. So, the quick answer is yes. I'm optimistic that we can fill out our ranks. We've got several interviews for lateral officers. We currently have an officer in the police academy right now that will return to the department roughly in September, and we're looking to also continue to employ future recruits to go to the academy. And then, we bring them back, and they start training here.
Caroline MacGregor: Tell me about your detective bureau, as far as staffing levels and what your relationship is now with the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Department.
Tim Anderson: We are handling all of our critical major cases, if you will, not saying that we won't ever ask for assistance on a case with another jurisdiction, the same as maybe they may ask us for some assistance. However, we're running a full-time detective bureau. We have two detectives kind of working out. We have one detective that's in there full- time, and then we have another officer that's working kind of in a hybrid format. So, we are taking steps to make sure that we are a fully sufficient police department, and we can provide the services that the community is entitled to.
Caroline MacGregor: As far as crime in the area, what are the main types of criminal activities you are seeing? I know that there were six businesses broken into. This was in May, I believe, of this year in downtown Ypsilanti. Did you find the perpetrator? And what are the other main criminal activities that you are trying to fight locally?
Tim Anderson: Well, I would definitely say those B&Es that we had did cause a disruption to our city. Our businesses feel unsafe. We have one individual that has been charged. The person just hasn't been arrested. So, it's being an open investigation. I won't say too much on that, but we still have mental health concerns. We've had a few stabbings here in the last couple of months. All those individuals were identified. But generally speaking, looking at the stats, a lot of our violent crime has been down. We haven't had increases in shootings. We've been thankful that we haven't had any homicides to this point this year. We had one vehicular homicide that we utilized some assistance from the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office, but we are still dealing with mental health, quality of life-type issues. And of course, the B&Es that you saw last month are a focus for us to bring that person to justice.
Caroline MacGregor: Are there particular areas of the city that are more unsafe than others?
Tim Anderson: I don't think there's areas that are more unsafe. I would say, I think, the downtown area though is where those B&Es occurred. With our transit center and our businesses being centrally located, you bring a bunch of people to one small area, right? So, it just is an opportunity for disruption--for chaos, if you will. That's where we've experienced some of our issues.
Caroline MacGregor: How would you rate morale in the Ypsilanti Police Department currently?
Tim Anderson: That's a great question, and I've got a fabulous answer for you! You know, we have to develop a culture here where people want to work, and it's got to be inclusive for everyone. When I took the position of interim chief, one of the first groups that I addressed was the officers in the department. And I wanted them to have some ownership and who their leader was, right? If they wanted me to take the role, that's fine. But I wanted them to have some more. I wanted constructive feedback from them. And I was able to receive votes of confidence from both unions--police officers and the Command Officers Association--in taking the interim role and in the chief's position. So, I get feedback from community members daily that tell me their officers are happy to be here. They're telling them that the morale is up. And one indicator that I use, it's a very objective piece, but our sick calls have reduced. People are more engaged, and they're more focused and want to be a part of it. We have a lot of people that are foregoing vacations, time off, because they want to see their organizations succeed. I'm not going to fix the Ypsilanti Police Department alone. The officers and the community all are going to have to work together for us to create any sense of public safety. And I'm very proud of the men and women of this department because they are sacrificing. I just wish the community and others could see the same sacrifice that I see in the building daily. But I would say, from the feedback I get, morale has increased. It's through the roof! Our sick calls have decreased over the last six months. We're starting up a lot of different training programs and officers are all raising their hands saying let me participate. That's a step in the right direction!
Caroline MacGregor: You've mentioned a few things, but what do you think the main thing is that change that brought about this turnaround in the morale?
Tim Anderson: I think I just put some focus back on employees. I wanted to give each of them an opportunity. And some of that's training and development. We want everybody to be a part of this organization and feel like they belong here. So, we've given everyone that wants to participate to try to give them a different job, right? Some ancillary duties. We're starting up our bike patrol next month, which is part of our community engagement piece. We want to put our officers back closer to the community. Right now, we're working on a program called ABLE, Active Bystander Law Enforcement, where it's just about intervention--duty to intervene. We've developed some new firearm instructors in the department and detectives in the department, so that engagement. And we want them to have some ownership and responsibility in the Ypsilanti Police Department because the only way it's going to go forward. It's a whole team mindset.
Caroline MacGregor: It sounds like engagement is the keyword and making people feel that they count in the decision-making moving forward.
Tim Anderson: Absolutely! You said it better than me. I want him to know that they count. They definitely count here, and they have some ownership, right? And they understand we're not always going to see eye-to-eye on every decision. I'm going to make some unpopular decisions, but we have to think about the organization going forward. It can't be the individual. We're public servants, and we have to think what's best with the community. We're moving in that direction. So, I love to talk about morale because I've seen a difference here when we focus on the work life. We're changing how we deploy our resources because, in the past, people have left this agency. There's been a lot in the media on why people have let this agency. But when I entered the agency, people were complaining about the overtime. We've worked in the same amount of overtime. We're trying to change that. We know we're a 24-7 operation, but how we employ our resources to make sure that we're being effective is important. And we have to think about our employee when we're making those decisions. I think the department is in a much better place today than it was in 2023, and my focus is to try to move it down the road. Keep moving it forward!
Caroline MacGregor: What's your relationship like with Washtenaw County Sheriff Alyshia Dyer? She's new to the job too.
Tim Anderson: Absolutely! We've had a very positive relationship. We're both new in our leadership roles. We share a lot of similar interests, and it's been very productive. She's been nothing but supportive of me in this role, and I hope that I am the same for her. But there's a great relationship because our agencies have to collaborate. We have to work together. Although we're the Ypsilanti Police Department, we were just discussing this, things oftentimes spill over, right? It may be an incident at West Willow that ends up on the south side or the north side of somewhere in Ypsilanti and vice versa. So, collaboration is necessary, I think, for the county overall. And I think we have a great partnership, and we look to continue it.
Caroline MacGregor: In closing, is there anything you'd like to add?
Tim Anderson: We're listening! And we want to make sure that we're responding to the needs of the community. So, I would just encourage people. I look forward to reporting out on our agency survey next month. But as I said earlier, we're going to look to make that annual, and we're going to continue to be responsive to the ever-changing needs of the community. That's our charge! That's our mission every day!
Caroline MacGregor: All right. Chief Anderson, thank you so much for joining me today!
Tim Anderson: Thank you! I appreciate the questions. Thank you for letting me get my side out on a few critical incidents.
Caroline MacGregor: This is 89.1 WEMU FM Ypsilanti.
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