Fate of village's 1-man police force up in air

 One-man department may combine with township’s 2-man department

By Eric Dresden
The Flint Journal

GAINES, Mich. (AP) — As he walks into his office, the man affectionately known as “Gramps” grabs his mail and prepares for another day as guardian of the 400 people who live in the village of Gaines.

It’s a job that Gaines Police Chief Tim Bradshaw has done day in and day out for years.

Alone.

But after spending five of the last 14 years as a one-man operation, the village is considering a move that could make that approach a thing of the past, according to The Flint Journal.

With last year’s one-vote victory for a new police millage in surrounding Gaines Township, the village has gotten overtures to combine its one-man department with the two-man department that patrols the township.

Bradshaw has been with the village police department for 14 years. When he started the department had two officers but has been on his own the last two years after the village decided it only needed one person.

Since then Bradshaw has patrolled part-time, working four to five days a week, with state police, sheriff’s deputies and Gaines Township police picking up the slack when he goes off duty.

He said he knows everyone’s face in town and is well-known by everyone in the community.

“I may not know everybody by name, because I’ve never been good with names,” said Bradshaw, 66. “But I know a lot of people by face.”

When asked about village crimes, it’s a well-known how everyone gets along.

“Well that’s easy, zero,” Gaines Village Clerk Luanne Kondel said. “We usually don’t have a whole lot of trouble around here.”

Bradshaw attributes the little crime to a great community and personal relationships with police.

“I’ve got the people trained that someone’s going to jail if they make me do paperwork,” he joked.

So, why keep the policing in the small community? As Bradshaw said, it’s all about allowing people to feel at home.

“It gives them a little bit of security when they see me,” he said.

Bradshaw makes $12.50 an hour and has a total budget for $18,626 for his department to travel the 16 streets in the village which features two businesses, a post office and the village office along its downtown strip.

Laura Orr, who works at the Gaines Superette in the village, said she appreciates Bradshaw and the fact that he knows all the children at Gaines Elementary.

“He’s very friendly,” she said. “He knows everybody by name.”

Recent discussions have brought Bradshaw’s position to the forefront of politician’s minds in both the village of Gaines and Gaines Township, in which the village lies.

On April 9, Gaines Township Police Chief Mark Schmitzer went to the village council to explain that a November 2013 vote to re-establish a police department means the village residents will get taxed 0.5 mill and that the township can provide service to the village.

The township expects to collect more than $80,000 from the millage.

“All I did to them is say, ‘It’s early but you need to start thinking what you want,” Schmitzer told MLive - The Flint Journal.

Schmitzer said he’d like to bring Bradshaw into the township department, if the budget allows for it.

The overture has rankled township Supervisor Chuck Melki.

Melki was unhappy that Schmitzer talked with the village and feels as though Schmitzer went above the supervisor.

“He’s not authorized to do that,” Melki said. “I’m in the dark about it. ... We’re his employer.”

Treasurer Diane Hyrman attended the village meeting with Schmitzer, and Schmitzer said that shows the board is aware him asking.

However, Hyrman and Melki have been at odds over policing for some time.

On April 2, Hyrman and two other board members voted against a plan to share police services with Mundy Township, much to the chagrin of Melki, who said the move would save the township more than $30,000 and give more policing. Hyrman said she thought it looked like a “takeover” and wanted more of a leadership position for Schmitzer in the Mundy Township Police Department.

“Their police officer does a great job,” Melki said. “It’s funny that our police chief wants to do what Mundy Township wanted (to do with the township).”

Village President Sam Stiff said it makes sense to let the township provide policing for the village, but things remain up in the air because the township won’t know its budget until after receiving property taxes at the beginning of next year.

“I think we should go with (the township) right now,” he said. “But we don’t know one way or another.”

“I’d love to just stay out in the village,” village of Gaines Police Chief Tim Bradshaw.

However, Village Councilman James Savage said he thinks politics is at play to get rid of Bradshaw and he will vote to keep the man, who he said represents the community very well.

“He’s the type to prefer giving warnings to tickets,” Savage said. “I think Tim does a great job and we should keep him.”

Bradshaw wants to continue policing the village, no matter if his badge says village or township on it.

Before his time in the village, he spent 25 years as a city of Flint employee, with 15 of those years being a police officer. He retired, and decided to come back part time to Gaines, but couldn’t imagine being anywhere else at this point.

“If I don’t like it out there then I’ll just give up the job period,” he said, adding he’d retire. “I’d love to just stay out in the village.”

If he is moved into the township force, his goal is to continue policing the village, although he knows he’ll likely have a bigger area to go over but wants residents to let the village know how they feel.

“I’m going to leave it up to the residents of the village. If they choose that they don’t want to pay twice, then OK, I’ll go, no questions asked, with the township,” he said. “If I lived here would I want to pay twice for two departments? No.”

With Melki, Hyrman and Township Clerk Michael Dowler all facing recalls, Bradshaw said both the village and township might better understand what’s going to happen when November comes, if their recalls are on the ballot.

A decision from the village might come in early 2015, as both the village and township begin deciding budgets — and Bradshaw is going to keep doing what he’s known for 14 years.

“I’m just tickled to death to be here,” he said. “It is so quiet ... and when all the trees are green and you drive through the side streets, the trees are overhanging the roadway and it’s nice and shady.”