March 17, 2025 • 15 mins
In this engaging episode of "Made in Walker," we sit down with Tyler Glass and Mitch Harkema, community resource officers at the Walker Police Department. They share insights on how their role extends beyond traditional policing; it's about building genuine connections with the community. Tyler and Mitch reveal their strategies for fostering a sense of trust and collaboration, particularly through an inventive use of social media.
Listeners will discover how the Walker Police Department is reshaping perceptions around law enforcement while implementing creative initiatives like community care programs that target local needs. They discuss the proactive steps the officers take to encourage citizen involvement, from providing support to distressed families to hosting open forums for dialogue, such as "Coffee with a Cop."
This episode is not just about policing; it’s about community. Join us as we explore the unique connection between law enforcement and residents, showcasing how genuine relationships can lead to a safer and more engaged community. Subscribe now and don't miss out on inspiring stories that highlight the extraordinary efforts within the Walker community!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Welcome to Made in Walker, a podcast that connects
you to the people, the storiesand the ideas shaping our
community, from local innovatorsto everyday changemakers.
We're diving deep into whatmakes Walker a great place to
live, work and grow.
Here's your host, nicoleDiDonato.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Well, they don't just protect and serve, they empower
and connect.
I'm joined today by Tyler Glassand Mitch Harkema.
They are the community resourceofficers for the Walker Police
Department.
Thank you both so much fortaking time out of your busy
days to be with us.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
No problem, happy to be here.
Thank you for having us.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Of course, and so tell folks who may not be 100%
familiar with what exactlycommunity resource officers do,
especially in Walker.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Sure.
So the community resourceposition in Walker is kind of a
hybrid officer position.
We do a little bit ofeverything.
We're kind of our umbrella isthe support services unit and
we're specifically responsiblefor anything that could be
related to community engagement,community education, outreach.
We have a minor role as schoolliaisons we're not true school
(01:13):
resource officers like someother agencies have but then we
just kind of plug and playwherever the department might
need a little extra help.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Of course, and this kind of is really big on
relationships.
That's pretty much what you'rekind of going out and doing in
the community for the most part.
So how has that been?
Speaker 4 (01:45):
that's kind of refreshing and nice where we're
going out and actuallyinteracting with people that are
enjoying seeing us, where a lotof times it's law enforcement,
it's we're there for, you know,people are in a bad, having a
bad day, whatever it is, andit's refreshing now that you're
out there and you're interactinga lot more with the kids and
and getting out there and justkind of seeing a whole different
side of the community, which iskind of nice and refreshing.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
So absolutely, and that relationship connecting um
it comes several ways.
One way that you do itindirectly or so is social media
.
You actually run the WalkerPolice Department page and for
those who know it you know thekind of sarcasm, the humor and
stuff.
But that's all there for apurpose, right.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
Absolutely so.
Several years ago, when I firstcame into the community
resource role, we didn't reallyhave a social media presence at
all.
The city had their own and wehad to go through City Hall to
get anything posted.
And a lot of times it just kindof became a struggle because
the urgent things that we needto post like avoid the areas or
traffic delays, things like thatthose needed to be posted right
(02:41):
now, and if we weren't able toget a hold of someone at City
Hall we couldn't get thosemessages out.
So we really went back to thedrawing board and were like
maybe we need our own.
And then when we decided, okay,we're going to take some baby
steps, we're going to do aFacebook page, a City of Walker
Police Department Facebook page,and thought about what do we
want it to look like?
(03:06):
And we looked at a lot ofagencies in our area and it was
most of them were based on justhere's what the officers did.
Here's a call.
We went on oh, we had a trafficalert here avoid the area there
.
So we took a little bit of therecipe from Bath Township Police
Department not quite as much aswhat they do, but we toned that
down a little bit because theyuse a good amount of humor to
connect with their community andif you look at a lot of the
(03:27):
stuff that they've had on theirsocial media, they get a lot of
good feedback and it is nice tosee that that recipe has been
well received.
Our admin at our policedepartment, our leaders of the
city, have been very supportiveof that.
City have been very supportiveof that, and it's always fun to
be out at community events andhear hey, we really love that
post and that something asmundane as like a safety tip,
(03:54):
but maybe the way we package itreally helps it stick in
people's mind and helps us getour message out?
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Yeah, absolutely, and in building that trust,
hopefully people can comeforward with important
information.
If you guys are working oncases and such, and have you
seen folks take to you guys andthe way that you approach people
a different way?
Speaker 3 (04:08):
We have.
I mean, when we post attempt toidentify things, we get some
typical ones that come inthrough silent observer or
detective tip line.
But a lot of people willmessage or throw right in the
comment section which we preferthem to go the route to get to
our detectives and things likethat.
But even when we're out in thecommunity sometimes they'll say
(04:30):
hey, we saw this.
Did you guys ever figure outwho did that crime or who was
responsible for that?
We talked about it at thisfamily gathering and we think
maybe it was this person.
And those are always tips.
They come in to us on our deskphones and through our emails
too, because they know we arethe ones who manage the social
media pages and then we can turnthose tips over to our
(04:51):
detectives and they follow up onthose and they do A lot of
times.
They get some good results fromthose things.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Yes, and Tyler, you had mentioned that you just kind
of got into this role.
How has it been for you?
Speaker 4 (05:10):
You said, it's kind of been a nice breath of fresh
air.
What have been certain thingsthat kind of stuck out for you?
Again, I go back to just kindof when people are reaching out
to us.
It's not because they're introuble or something's been
going on, but we're now outinteracting with people in more
of a positive role and it's justnice and refreshing to see and
just how supportive thecommunity actually is to us.
And being in this role and thenconnecting with community
leaders and businesses and stuff, it's a really nice, refreshing
(05:32):
kind of seeing that differentaspect of law enforcement in the
community as well.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Yeah, and you point about the community and their
involvement, their support.
You have a community careinitiative that you guys started
several years ago and it'sreally going a long way.
What exactly is that and whatare you looking for more from
the community?
Speaker 3 (05:51):
So in the city of Walker we're pretty blessed to
have a very supportive community.
They're very supportive of ourpolice department, public safety
in general and a lot of timesat different events or even on
some of our posts, people come.
You know, how can we help?
How can we give back to thepolice department?
We want to, and one of thethings we realized, especially
during COVID, was a lot oftraditional resources, community
(06:14):
resources, that are out therefor folks.
They get overwhelmed veryquickly.
Some of them are unavailable orthey have very extended wait
times and some have even shutdown since COVID.
So we were looking for someways like how can we close those
gaps?
We know we're not going to bethe long-term solution, but a
lot of times we are the firstline that people see when
they're looking for a connectionto a resource or a place to
(06:38):
stay or just some sort ofadvocacy, and the first number
they call is 911 and they see acouple police officers show up.
So a way that the community hasbeen able to give back is we've
well, first we've developed agreat partnership with Meijer
and that was kind of our babystep into this was Meijer will
give us gift cards, and we wereable to then give those to
(06:59):
people in need as identified byofficers on calls for service,
because you can get pretty mucheverything at Meijer right
Groceries, clothes, baby items,essential care items, things
like that.
So that was a good first step.
And then one of the things werealized is sometimes, when you
have a homeless family who iswaiting to find their next place
to stay, they've already beenconnected, like I said, with
(07:21):
traditional resources, butthere's just a time gap in
between point A and point B andthey don't deserve to be out on
the street.
They don't need to be out onthe street, or you know just
things like that.
A lot of times officers werepaying for hotel stays out of
their own pocket.
I've done it.
I know Officer Glass has doneit.
A lot of officers at Walker PD,from the top down, have done
(07:44):
this, so we're like well, whydon't we ask the community to
give back here?
So the Visa prepaid gift cardsare a very easy thing for
businesses to throw into theirbudget, for citizens to donate
to our police department.
You can drop them off anytimeright at our records lobby
during business hours and wekeep those in a safe right in
our sergeant's office and thenagain, as needs arise and
(08:06):
officers identify these thingsduring calls for service, we can
grab those and then kind offill the gaps in between the
traditional resources.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
That's a wonderful way.
You guys have seen a lot ofpeople come forward and again
the community is just so giving.
We've said that time and timeagain, so that's really
wonderful to see.
There are some outreach thatyou guys are going to be doing
in the next month or so.
We're bringing back the coffeefor a cop.
That is something that you guyshave planned.
Speaker 4 (08:30):
Yeah, so that is going on March 27th.
We have that set up at theMeyerhorn Alpine, so it's 24-25
Alpine.
We'll be there from 9 am to10-30 am.
Mitch and I will be there, aswell as the Chief of Police.
Maybe some other admin as well,as Mayor Gary Carey will be
there as well.
Just if you have any questionsfor for us, questions about the
(08:52):
community, any concerns, justwant to sit down and have a
coffee with with your local lawenforcement and leaders of the
city.
We'll be there to just just sitdown and have a chat.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
Yeah great way to do that yeah yeah, the nice thing
about doing it at the Meyer andAlpine is, as people are coming
into shop maybe they're not theusual folks who would come to a
coffee with a cop event, butthen they see us there because
we're pretty much right whereyou walk in and then they take a
few minutes just even just tosay hi or chat with, like I said
, the mayor, the chief or one ofthe community officers.
It's a great way and it's apretty popular event for us.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Yeah, and where do you guys see the department or
the community resources kind oflike going into the future and
such, because it's only gonnaget more and more important.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
We definitely fill the role of the community
education piece quite a bit morethan what we used to, and I've
seen that involve over my yearsin the community resource unit.
We used to do a lot ofneighborhood watch type meetings
and then those numbers dwindledand a lot of people that were
(09:52):
coming into the meetings inWalker were not from our city.
So there really wasn't much asfar as enforcement or
information that we could passalong city-specific anymore.
So we kind of did away withthose and what we do now is we
just offer our services todifferent businesses churches,
schools what topic do you thinkwe could come into your place
(10:15):
and help you train on?
Because ultimately anything wecan do to help them in a
critical incident will help ourresponse also if they're a
little bit better trained onwhat to expect or how to react,
and those numbers have gone upover time.
The schools are very responsiveto our training A lot of places
of worship, businesses we werejust out doing those lessons
(10:38):
last week and pretty much allthree of those things a church,
a school and a business so Ithink that will continue to be
popular in the future.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
And any business organization within Walker can
ask for that kind of training.
How do they get a hold of youand how do they kind of set that
up?
Speaker 4 (10:54):
Yeah, I mean you can either one call the police
department, ask to be forwardedto the community resource
department Right now, with thetwo of us in here.
Now the city's split up intotwo different districts, so we
have the North District, whichis everything north of
Remembrance that's where I'm incontrol of now and taking care
of things up there and thenOfficer Harkema here.
He's south of Remembrance, soanything south of that he'll
(11:16):
handle that.
So you can simply call in.
We have our emails.
You can email us, call ouroffice phones, anything like
that.
We're pretty readily availableto speak with you and help you
out with any needs you have.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Yes, yeah, and I imagine that you're looking for
more folks, more wonderfulpeople, to join the police
department.
What, in particular, can yousay to them, to those folks who
may be interested?
Speaker 3 (11:38):
So the first thing is we are hiring anytime.
Just hit the city website onthe career opportunities page of
the police department portionof the website and you can set
up an account to drop in anapplication.
We would love lateral transfers.
If you have law enforcementexperience, we have a lateral
package where you come in, beingpaid basically whatever your
(12:00):
years of service are.
So if you have four or moreyears of service at your
previous department, you cancome to the City Walker and
start out at our topped out rate.
We also have a cadet program.
We'll be looking for some moreprobably freshman and college
age folks to fill our cadetroles later this year.
Again, just maintain a followingof our social media, our
(12:24):
Facebook page.
You'll see a lot moreinformation about that.
You'll see Officer Glass and Iout at a lot of recruiting
events, career fairs, thingslike that.
We just want good people towork here, people who fit in
with our family unit here at thepolice department and really
get a get a good flavor of whatthe city of Walker has to offer.
You know we're a mid-rangedepartment but we still have a
(12:46):
lot of opportunities within thedepartment, as a bigger
department would.
So we just like I said we wantsome people who will fit into
the community and not be afraidto get out of a cruiser, make
those business contacts walkthrough a school, get out on a
playground, shoot some hoopswith a kid and then obviously
doing the traffic enforcementcalls for service and things
like that too.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
And then obviously doing the traffic enforcement
calls for service and thingslike that too, but we have a
little bit more of a communityflavor here.
Yes, yeah, and what do youthink it is about the Walker
community that makes it sospecial, like why you like
working here?
Speaker 4 (13:13):
Well, I so I I've been in law enforcement for just
over 10 years now and I did myfirst five with the city of
Rockford and now I'm just overfive with the city of Walker and
I've been blessed with both,both places to be, with a great
supportive community in bothareas supportive community,
supportive, supportiveadministration, supportive, you
know, mayor and city council andstuff like that.
(13:35):
I mean just all together and injust the support we have as law
enforcement, having thatbacking behind us, as when the
support between the communityand the city itself is just huge
.
And and just coming from bothplaces, I mean just the sense of
community.
I know we just did the winterfest there and I thought that
was a very cool event there withwith the Kennewa Hills band
(13:56):
playing and and the communitythere and all the kids having
fun.
I mean just having that senseof community.
I think is is really fun,really cool, and I've been lucky
to at both places to have that.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
So yeah, and anything you would add, mitch.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
No, I mean just really to echo what he said.
We have such a nice supportivecommunity.
It's so refreshing to go out,especially on a summer day, with
the window down in your cruiserand have people wave to you
with all the fingers on theirhand or say something nice to
you.
Just the cards that we get atthe department, the people who
stop by.
You know people that bake uscookies or invite us, like I
(14:31):
said, invite us into our homesto do a neighborhood watch
meeting.
We don't really seek thosethings out.
Very often you may see a postthat said, hey, we're available
if you need it.
But people take advantage ofthose things.
They want us to come and that'ssuch a nice feeling to want to
be wanted in a position likethis, where sometimes that's not
the case.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
Yeah, Well, you guys have done an incredible job
building up that communityresource department and we're
extremely fortunate to have youin the Walker community.
Thank you both so much.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
Thank you For being here today.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
Thank you for joining us for this episode of the Made
in Walker podcast.
If you have comments orquestions about this podcast, or
if you have suggestions forfuture episodes, we'd love to
hear from you.
Please drop us an email atpodcast at walkercity.
Made in Walker is the officialpodcast of the city of Walker,
Michigan.
You can find Made in Walkerwherever you get your podcasts.
Welcome to Made in Walker, a podcast that connects
you to the people, the storiesand the ideas shaping our
community, from local innovatorsto everyday changemakers.
We're diving deep into whatmakes Walker a great place to
live, work and grow.
Here's your host, nicoleDiDonato.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Well, they don't just protect and serve, they empower
and connect.
I'm joined today by Tyler Glassand Mitch Harkema.
They are the community resourceofficers for the Walker Police
Department.
Thank you both so much fortaking time out of your busy
days to be with us.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
No problem, happy to be here.
Thank you for having us.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Of course, and so tell folks who may not be 100%
familiar with what exactlycommunity resource officers do,
especially in Walker.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Sure.
So the community resourceposition in Walker is kind of a
hybrid officer position.
We do a little bit ofeverything.
We're kind of our umbrella isthe support services unit and
we're specifically responsiblefor anything that could be
related to community engagement,community education, outreach.
We have a minor role as schoolliaisons we're not true school
(01:13):
resource officers like someother agencies have but then we
just kind of plug and playwherever the department might
need a little extra help.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Of course, and this kind of is really big on
relationships.
That's pretty much what you'rekind of going out and doing in
the community for the most part.
So how has that been?
Speaker 4 (01:45):
that's kind of refreshing and nice where we're
going out and actuallyinteracting with people that are
enjoying seeing us, where a lotof times it's law enforcement,
it's we're there for, you know,people are in a bad, having a
bad day, whatever it is, andit's refreshing now that you're
out there and you're interactinga lot more with the kids and
and getting out there and justkind of seeing a whole different
side of the community, which iskind of nice and refreshing.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
So absolutely, and that relationship connecting um
it comes several ways.
One way that you do itindirectly or so is social media
.
You actually run the WalkerPolice Department page and for
those who know it you know thekind of sarcasm, the humor and
stuff.
But that's all there for apurpose, right.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
Absolutely so.
Several years ago, when I firstcame into the community
resource role, we didn't reallyhave a social media presence at
all.
The city had their own and wehad to go through City Hall to
get anything posted.
And a lot of times it just kindof became a struggle because
the urgent things that we needto post like avoid the areas or
traffic delays, things like thatthose needed to be posted right
(02:41):
now, and if we weren't able toget a hold of someone at City
Hall we couldn't get thosemessages out.
So we really went back to thedrawing board and were like
maybe we need our own.
And then when we decided, okay,we're going to take some baby
steps, we're going to do aFacebook page, a City of Walker
Police Department Facebook page,and thought about what do we
want it to look like?
(03:06):
And we looked at a lot ofagencies in our area and it was
most of them were based on justhere's what the officers did.
Here's a call.
We went on oh, we had a trafficalert here avoid the area there
.
So we took a little bit of therecipe from Bath Township Police
Department not quite as much aswhat they do, but we toned that
down a little bit because theyuse a good amount of humor to
connect with their community andif you look at a lot of the
(03:27):
stuff that they've had on theirsocial media, they get a lot of
good feedback and it is nice tosee that that recipe has been
well received.
Our admin at our policedepartment, our leaders of the
city, have been very supportiveof that.
City have been very supportiveof that, and it's always fun to
be out at community events andhear hey, we really love that
post and that something asmundane as like a safety tip,
(03:54):
but maybe the way we package itreally helps it stick in
people's mind and helps us getour message out?
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Yeah, absolutely, and in building that trust,
hopefully people can comeforward with important
information.
If you guys are working oncases and such, and have you
seen folks take to you guys andthe way that you approach people
a different way?
Speaker 3 (04:08):
We have.
I mean, when we post attempt toidentify things, we get some
typical ones that come inthrough silent observer or
detective tip line.
But a lot of people willmessage or throw right in the
comment section which we preferthem to go the route to get to
our detectives and things likethat.
But even when we're out in thecommunity sometimes they'll say
(04:30):
hey, we saw this.
Did you guys ever figure outwho did that crime or who was
responsible for that?
We talked about it at thisfamily gathering and we think
maybe it was this person.
And those are always tips.
They come in to us on our deskphones and through our emails
too, because they know we arethe ones who manage the social
media pages and then we can turnthose tips over to our
(04:51):
detectives and they follow up onthose and they do A lot of
times.
They get some good results fromthose things.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Yes, and Tyler, you had mentioned that you just kind
of got into this role.
How has it been for you?
Speaker 4 (05:10):
You said, it's kind of been a nice breath of fresh
air.
What have been certain thingsthat kind of stuck out for you?
Again, I go back to just kindof when people are reaching out
to us.
It's not because they're introuble or something's been
going on, but we're now outinteracting with people in more
of a positive role and it's justnice and refreshing to see and
just how supportive thecommunity actually is to us.
And being in this role and thenconnecting with community
leaders and businesses and stuff, it's a really nice, refreshing
(05:32):
kind of seeing that differentaspect of law enforcement in the
community as well.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Yeah, and you point about the community and their
involvement, their support.
You have a community careinitiative that you guys started
several years ago and it'sreally going a long way.
What exactly is that and whatare you looking for more from
the community?
Speaker 3 (05:51):
So in the city of Walker we're pretty blessed to
have a very supportive community.
They're very supportive of ourpolice department, public safety
in general and a lot of timesat different events or even on
some of our posts, people come.
You know, how can we help?
How can we give back to thepolice department?
We want to, and one of thethings we realized, especially
during COVID, was a lot oftraditional resources, community
(06:14):
resources, that are out therefor folks.
They get overwhelmed veryquickly.
Some of them are unavailable orthey have very extended wait
times and some have even shutdown since COVID.
So we were looking for someways like how can we close those
gaps?
We know we're not going to bethe long-term solution, but a
lot of times we are the firstline that people see when
they're looking for a connectionto a resource or a place to
(06:38):
stay or just some sort ofadvocacy, and the first number
they call is 911 and they see acouple police officers show up.
So a way that the community hasbeen able to give back is we've
well, first we've developed agreat partnership with Meijer
and that was kind of our babystep into this was Meijer will
give us gift cards, and we wereable to then give those to
(06:59):
people in need as identified byofficers on calls for service,
because you can get pretty mucheverything at Meijer right
Groceries, clothes, baby items,essential care items, things
like that.
So that was a good first step.
And then one of the things werealized is sometimes, when you
have a homeless family who iswaiting to find their next place
to stay, they've already beenconnected, like I said, with
(07:21):
traditional resources, butthere's just a time gap in
between point A and point B andthey don't deserve to be out on
the street.
They don't need to be out onthe street, or you know just
things like that.
A lot of times officers werepaying for hotel stays out of
their own pocket.
I've done it.
I know Officer Glass has doneit.
A lot of officers at Walker PD,from the top down, have done
(07:44):
this, so we're like well, whydon't we ask the community to
give back here?
So the Visa prepaid gift cardsare a very easy thing for
businesses to throw into theirbudget, for citizens to donate
to our police department.
You can drop them off anytimeright at our records lobby
during business hours and wekeep those in a safe right in
our sergeant's office and thenagain, as needs arise and
(08:06):
officers identify these thingsduring calls for service, we can
grab those and then kind offill the gaps in between the
traditional resources.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
That's a wonderful way.
You guys have seen a lot ofpeople come forward and again
the community is just so giving.
We've said that time and timeagain, so that's really
wonderful to see.
There are some outreach thatyou guys are going to be doing
in the next month or so.
We're bringing back the coffeefor a cop.
That is something that you guyshave planned.
Speaker 4 (08:30):
Yeah, so that is going on March 27th.
We have that set up at theMeyerhorn Alpine, so it's 24-25
Alpine.
We'll be there from 9 am to10-30 am.
Mitch and I will be there, aswell as the Chief of Police.
Maybe some other admin as well,as Mayor Gary Carey will be
there as well.
Just if you have any questionsfor for us, questions about the
(08:52):
community, any concerns, justwant to sit down and have a
coffee with with your local lawenforcement and leaders of the
city.
We'll be there to just just sitdown and have a chat.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
Yeah great way to do that yeah yeah, the nice thing
about doing it at the Meyer andAlpine is, as people are coming
into shop maybe they're not theusual folks who would come to a
coffee with a cop event, butthen they see us there because
we're pretty much right whereyou walk in and then they take a
few minutes just even just tosay hi or chat with, like I said
, the mayor, the chief or one ofthe community officers.
It's a great way and it's apretty popular event for us.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Yeah, and where do you guys see the department or
the community resources kind oflike going into the future and
such, because it's only gonnaget more and more important.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
We definitely fill the role of the community
education piece quite a bit morethan what we used to, and I've
seen that involve over my yearsin the community resource unit.
We used to do a lot ofneighborhood watch type meetings
and then those numbers dwindledand a lot of people that were
(09:52):
coming into the meetings inWalker were not from our city.
So there really wasn't much asfar as enforcement or
information that we could passalong city-specific anymore.
So we kind of did away withthose and what we do now is we
just offer our services todifferent businesses churches,
schools what topic do you thinkwe could come into your place
(10:15):
and help you train on?
Because ultimately anything wecan do to help them in a
critical incident will help ourresponse also if they're a
little bit better trained onwhat to expect or how to react,
and those numbers have gone upover time.
The schools are very responsiveto our training A lot of places
of worship, businesses we werejust out doing those lessons
(10:38):
last week and pretty much allthree of those things a church,
a school and a business so Ithink that will continue to be
popular in the future.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
And any business organization within Walker can
ask for that kind of training.
How do they get a hold of youand how do they kind of set that
up?
Speaker 4 (10:54):
Yeah, I mean you can either one call the police
department, ask to be forwardedto the community resource
department Right now, with thetwo of us in here.
Now the city's split up intotwo different districts, so we
have the North District, whichis everything north of
Remembrance that's where I'm incontrol of now and taking care
of things up there and thenOfficer Harkema here.
He's south of Remembrance, soanything south of that he'll
(11:16):
handle that.
So you can simply call in.
We have our emails.
You can email us, call ouroffice phones, anything like
that.
We're pretty readily availableto speak with you and help you
out with any needs you have.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Yes, yeah, and I imagine that you're looking for
more folks, more wonderfulpeople, to join the police
department.
What, in particular, can yousay to them, to those folks who
may be interested?
Speaker 3 (11:38):
So the first thing is we are hiring anytime.
Just hit the city website onthe career opportunities page of
the police department portionof the website and you can set
up an account to drop in anapplication.
We would love lateral transfers.
If you have law enforcementexperience, we have a lateral
package where you come in, beingpaid basically whatever your
(12:00):
years of service are.
So if you have four or moreyears of service at your
previous department, you cancome to the City Walker and
start out at our topped out rate.
We also have a cadet program.
We'll be looking for some moreprobably freshman and college
age folks to fill our cadetroles later this year.
Again, just maintain a followingof our social media, our
(12:24):
Facebook page.
You'll see a lot moreinformation about that.
You'll see Officer Glass and Iout at a lot of recruiting
events, career fairs, thingslike that.
We just want good people towork here, people who fit in
with our family unit here at thepolice department and really
get a get a good flavor of whatthe city of Walker has to offer.
You know we're a mid-rangedepartment but we still have a
(12:46):
lot of opportunities within thedepartment, as a bigger
department would.
So we just like I said we wantsome people who will fit into
the community and not be afraidto get out of a cruiser, make
those business contacts walkthrough a school, get out on a
playground, shoot some hoopswith a kid and then obviously
doing the traffic enforcementcalls for service and things
like that too.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
And then obviously doing the traffic enforcement
calls for service and thingslike that too, but we have a
little bit more of a communityflavor here.
Yes, yeah, and what do youthink it is about the Walker
community that makes it sospecial, like why you like
working here?
Speaker 4 (13:13):
Well, I so I I've been in law enforcement for just
over 10 years now and I did myfirst five with the city of
Rockford and now I'm just overfive with the city of Walker and
I've been blessed with both,both places to be, with a great
supportive community in bothareas supportive community,
supportive, supportiveadministration, supportive, you
know, mayor and city council andstuff like that.
(13:35):
I mean just all together and injust the support we have as law
enforcement, having thatbacking behind us, as when the
support between the communityand the city itself is just huge
.
And and just coming from bothplaces, I mean just the sense of
community.
I know we just did the winterfest there and I thought that
was a very cool event there withwith the Kennewa Hills band
(13:56):
playing and and the communitythere and all the kids having
fun.
I mean just having that senseof community.
I think is is really fun,really cool, and I've been lucky
to at both places to have that.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
So yeah, and anything you would add, mitch.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
No, I mean just really to echo what he said.
We have such a nice supportivecommunity.
It's so refreshing to go out,especially on a summer day, with
the window down in your cruiserand have people wave to you
with all the fingers on theirhand or say something nice to
you.
Just the cards that we get atthe department, the people who
stop by.
You know people that bake uscookies or invite us, like I
(14:31):
said, invite us into our homesto do a neighborhood watch
meeting.
We don't really seek thosethings out.
Very often you may see a postthat said, hey, we're available
if you need it.
But people take advantage ofthose things.
They want us to come and that'ssuch a nice feeling to want to
be wanted in a position likethis, where sometimes that's not
the case.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
Yeah, Well, you guys have done an incredible job
building up that communityresource department and we're
extremely fortunate to have youin the Walker community.
Thank you both so much.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
Thank you For being here today.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
Thank you for joining us for this episode of the Made
in Walker podcast.
If you have comments orquestions about this podcast, or
if you have suggestions forfuture episodes, we'd love to
hear from you.
Please drop us an email atpodcast at walkercity.
Made in Walker is the officialpodcast of the city of Walker,
Michigan.
You can find Made in Walkerwherever you get your podcasts.
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