Calhoun Public Safety reports hiring progress, fewer PCR complaints and drop in shooting victims

Calhoun Public Safety officials gave updates on staffing, community training and recent crime trends at a public safety meeting.

The department said it has made nine conditional offers to candidates who are in final background stages and expected to enter training, and that a one-day regional Citizen Academy remains open for up to 30 participants. Inspector Mason described the department's process for resolving police-citizen relations (PCR) complaints and presented data showing a decline in shooting victims from 2023 to 2024.

The staffing announcement drew from the department's personnel update. "We have made 9 conditional offers made. They're in the final stages," the Chief said. The offers are contingent on background checks and academy completion, and successful candidates were described as likely to attend the fire academy in May and a police academy in the fall.

The Citizen Academy, a regional, one-day program that the department said will include breakfast and lunch, is open to adults 18 and older from across the region. The Chief said the program involves multiple agencies, listing Portage Township, Western Michigan University, the State Police and federal drug-enforcement entities as participants. A community attendee who said she had attended a two-day version called the program "absolutely marvelous" and said it provided perspective on officers' split-second decisions.

Inspector Mason reported 11 PCR cases as of March 31, 2025. One investigation was "completed and being reviewed by the Chiefs," Mason said; another remained under investigation. Asked what "unfounded" means in a complaint finding, Mason said, "The term unfounded means that the, the alleged action, did not occur." He described investigators using police reports, body-worn and dash-camera footage, interviews with officers and citizens, and other available evidence when reaching conclusions.

Mason also described geographic patterns in complaints. Zone 1, the downtown area, draws more calls for service and therefore more complaints, he said, and Zone 2 covers a large area including the Edison and Millwood neighborhoods from Vine Street to Kilgore.

On violent crime, Mason reviewed a chart tracing fatal and nonfatal shooting victims over the past decade. He said the department's strategies, including multi-agency crime-reduction meetings and ballistic-analysis tools such as the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN), appear to have contributed to declines in 2024: "the number of fatal shooting victims dropped by 50 percent and nonfatal by 30 percent in '24 from '23," he said.

Mason attributed those changes to data-driven deterrent strategies, weekly multi-agency meetings, information from crime analysts and NIBIN results. He cautioned only that the department would continue to monitor trends.

The department also said two annual reports are in final review'the Office of Professional Standards annual report for 2024 and an annual report for the Department of Public Safety chair and vice chair'and that both would be placed in the meeting minutes or provided before the next public meeting.

No formal votes or ordinance actions were recorded in the transcript excerpt. The personnel offers and report reviews were described as administrative updates and pending follow-up actions rather than council or commission votes.