KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – The city of Kalamazoo is getting a $1.25 million grant from the federal government to beef up manpower in the public safety department.
The Community Oriented Policing Services, or “COPS,” grant from the U.S. Department of Justice will allow Kalamazoo Public Safety to add 10 positions.
Chief David Boysen says they have seen improved crime statistics across the board, and they want to maintain that momentum. He also says additional manpower will be needed with the addition of the new event center.
We recently talked to the chief about the need for more officers, with their workload continuing to increase as officers are now handling behavioral-health incidents, in addition to first responder healthcare, fire and police duties.
“When we get to the scene, we don’t just have to put up the police tape and wait for the ambulance to get there, our officers are rushing in and providing aid and first aid life saving measures,” says Boysen.
He says they need lead time, because it takes a year or more to find and train raw recruits to become public safety officers who must be certified in EMS, firefighting and police work.
“If I hire you today, you won’t really help me towards staffing until this time next year so it’s a whole year of training before you hit the street, so that’s a big significant investment. It’s critically important that we get the right people in this job and I always said that you know we can train you on the skills but we can’t train the heart so we gotta find people the right heart and we’ll train the skills.”
The proposal includes a request for an additional $125,000 from the general fund, which when added to the grant money, will fund the 10 positions for three years.
Chief Boysen says the department applied for the grant last July and have just gotten word that it’s been approved.
The city commission is expected to accept the grant at their meeting tonight.
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