Safety Officer Program Serves as Training Ground for Criminal Justice Students
By Eric Fish

The Traffic Safety Officer program on Mackinac Island was initiated six years ago in response to city concerns about congestion on Main Street. It has grown from two safety officers to five, says Police Chief William Lenaghan, and allows college students in criminal justice to experience work at a police department for the summer.

Jeremy Hingston of Lake Superior State University, Rob Wiegmann of Michigan State University, Adam Laninga of Grand Valley State University, and James Hagenbaugh of Mott Community College represent the department's Traffic Safety Officers this summer. Katie Chesebro also began the program this summer, but has since moved on to Kalamazoo to study at the police academy.

"Most of them have gone on to be police officers someplace else," Chief Lenaghan said of the safety officers. "The people we have this year are no exception."

Approximately 80,000 bicycles are brought to Mackinac Island by visitors each year, which add to more than 1,000 rental bicycles and 2,000 resident owned bikes. The basic duties of the Traffic Safety Officer are to route tourists and bike traffic away from the docks as the ferries come in, provide information to visitors, and oversee city ordinances. It's the main duties of the Traffic Safety Officers, who spend approximately 6.5 hours over the course of a regular eight-hour shift patrolling downtown by bicycle and on foot.

"We're on the streets every day," said Mr. Hingston. "You work under some very knowledgeable people that come with a lot of experience."

At night, the officers answer telephones at the police department, help with paperwork, and sometimes look after prisoners. Chief Lenaghan considers it a successful program and a good way to get students an inroad to the field. Of the five Traffic Safety Officers this summer, only Messrs. Wiegmann and Laninga were new. Mr. Hagenbaugh is in his fourth year with the program while Mr. Hingston and Ms. Chesebro began their second summer of duty at the season's start.

"This year was probably the best we've had of people and their acceptance here," Chief Lenaghan said of the 2007 Traffic Safety Officers. But he admits the program has had growing pains.

"In years past, some of the officers haven't understood their role," he said. "That's led to some discussion among the people on the [city] committees. And I agree with it to some extent that some people weren't living within their roles.

"These people weren't hired as cadets, they were hired as traffic safety people. Part of it's confusion in the past, they tended to take on things that weren't within their purview."

Chief Lenaghan suggested that part of the reason for the confusion was a lack of training, preparation, and enforced schedule.

"The last couple of years, they've been very good about pretty much doing what they're supposed to be doing," Chief Lenaghan said about the program. "They knew their roles and they were working within the system."

The program could even be expanded as a public safety service program, he believes. Along with working for the police department, a public safety service officer would assist the fire department and the ambulance.

"If we change their role to public safety service officer, they receive a little more training so that they're able to do a few more things than they were able to do in the past," Chief Lenaghan said. "It would introduce them into other parts of the department that are non-emergency type jobs."

He has also thought about making the program available to recent Mackinac Island High School graduates. They already would be familiar with the Island and would not require the city to provide housing.