Kalamazoo
Police department testing officer body cameras
KALAMAZOO, Mich. (AP) — Body cameras worn on the front of uniforms are being tested by a western Michigan police department.
A police lieutenant in Kalamazoo has been wearing a lightweight, battery-powered camera for about a month. The cameras cost about $1,200 each and provide video and audio.
Public Safety Chief Jeff Hadley wants to make them standard equipment and says his department would need 100 to 125 of them for sergeants and patrol officers.
“I think it provides more of an objective point of view rather than witness statements or officer statements,” Hadley told the Kalamazoo Gazette. “It protects the officers, it protects the community, it provides better evidence in any case and it’s another layer of transparency that we can provide to the community so we can build trust and that the public can have confidence in what we do.
“The caveat to that is no matter what audio and video you have, it’s not going to capture everything.”
The idea of equipping law officers with body cameras is being discussed in communities across the nation after a police officer in August shot and killed 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.
Metro Savannah police in Georgia are proposing a plan to obtain 360 body cameras, enough to outfit all the department’s patrol and traffic officers with the technology.
Cleveland plans to spend $1.6 million to equip 1,000 front-line officers with body cameras amid a federal investigation of the city’s police department that was triggered by a high-speed pursuit and the fatal shooting of two unarmed civilians.
Kalamazoo officer Sara Choi said camera footage can help identify suspects or witnesses when police are called to fights or large disturbances. The footage also could be helpful as evidence in court, she said.
Traverse City
Michigan widens northern farmers’ deer hunt rights
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Farmers in five northern Lower Peninsula counties are getting a dispensation from Michigan to shoot deer as a way to reduce damage to their fruit trees and other crops.
The Michigan Natural Resources Commission has approved the hunts in Antrim, Benzie, Charlevoix, Grand Traverse and Leelanau counties.
Farmers have received special allowance for years under the Deer Management Assistance Permit, but only during normal hunting seasons.
This year, people getting the permits also can hunt for certain periods outside the firearms and bow-hunting seasons.
The system allows firearms hunting through much of the fall but excludes shooting deer Oct. 1-4 and Nov. 10-14.
Mark Miezio, manager at Cherry Bay Orchards and president of the Leelanau County Horticultural Society, said he has tried everything to keep deer away from his farm. That includes hanging bars and dryer sheets from trees and spraying them with hot sauce and cologne.
“Everything works for a short period of time,” but nothing works for long, Miezio told the Traverse City Record-Eagle. He said he has had to replace 2 percent to 5 percent of his fruit trees because of deer damage in recent years. Deer damage the trees by eating new growth in the spring and rubbing their antlers on trees in the fall.
That experience isn’t unique, said Ashley Autenrieth, a deer program biologist with the state Department of Natural Resources.
“In general, we’ve been seeing an increase in deer numbers over the last few years and we’ve seen a spike in damage occurring in those areas,” said Autenrieth.
An advocacy group for hunters questioned whether farmers need the new rules and said the result could be a reduction in hunting opportunities for others.
“We’re already seen a decrease in the deer populations in northwest Michigan due to the winter last year, higher than normal snowfall and also the temperatures took a toll on the deer herd,” said Ryan Ratajczak, president of the Northwest Michigan Quality Deer Management Association. “Our concern was next year, if we have another bad winter, that the deer herd is going to be decreased even more.”
Bay City
Ex-office manager charged in $30K embezzlement
BAY CITY, Mich. (AP) — A 52-year-old former office manager has been charged after authorities say she embezzled $30,000 from a Bay County dentist.
The Bay City Times reports Truly A. Dominowski appeared Friday in Bay County District Court for arraignment. She’s charged with one count of embezzlement of more than $20,000. She is free pending an Oct. 23 preliminary examination.
Her lawyer Matthew L. Reyes says Dominowski “fully cooperated and been honest with everyone regarding the unfortunate incident.”
Dr. Peter Morley Jr. of Auburn Family Dentistry contacted police in May, telling them he had fired Dominowski after more than two decades of work. The thefts allegedly started in 2008.
Court records say the thefts came after Dominowski was diagnosed with breast cancer and she told investigators she planned to pay back the money.
East Lansing
Michigan State, East Lansing start language effort
EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — East Lansing and Michigan State University’s Center for Language Teaching Advancement say they’re trying to open up local services to non-English speakers with a program that provides translations of materials into Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, Korean and Spanish.
The project goes by the name “MELTing POT, MSU East Lansing Together: Promoting Outreach through Translations.” Michigan State said the goal is “to promote community outreach through translations.”
Among other things, American and international students will collaborate on translating important documents for City Hall in the community of 49,000. The students will work under the supervision of graduate students or faculty members.
“The city has been working to ensure that all residents and visitors, regardless of their national origin, have equal access to city services and amenities,” Mayor Nathan Triplett said in a statement. “Our goal is to become a model receiving community for international students and scholars, refugees and immigrants.”
Besides doing good, students will gain valuable pre-professional experience, said Angelika Kraemer, associate director of the Center for Language Teaching Advancement. She called it “an important aspect of their education at MSU” that “allows our language students to collaborate with native speakers of the language and apply what they learn in their classrooms in meaningful ways.”
The work of the project first went on display at this month’s East Lansing Welcomes the World event.
Flint
Body found in ex-funeral home after shooting call
FLINT, Mich. (AP) — Flint police say officers investigating a report of a shooting found a man dead inside a former funeral home.
Police tell The Flint Journal that officers got a call about 9:40 a.m. Sunday about a body at the site of the former Reigle Funeral Home on the city’s south side.
Police say a co-worker went to the site after learning that the victim didn’t return home Saturday evening and found him dead with an apparent gunshot wound.
Police say investigators haven’t confirmed what killed the man, whose name wasn’t immediately released. City police were getting help from the Genesee County sheriff’s department and Michigan State Police.
