The Michigan State Police Post in Niles has been honored with two statewide awards.
At an MSP awards ceremony in Lansing this week, the Niles post received the Community Policing Outstanding Achievement Award for its efforts to maintain a positive relationship with the people it serves. First Lieutenant Timothy Thompson is the post commander and tells us the troopers themselves want to be a part of the community.
“We cannot be totally 100% effective if we don’t have the support of the public,” Thompson said. “So we understand the importance of interacting with the public, creating relationships, and fostering those ongoing relationships and trust from the public. We do that through a number of outreach events.”
What sorts of events?
“A lot of those include the National Night Out, which is a national event where all law enforcement agencies throughout the whole country go out on the same night and set up a lot of events…But on top of that, these guys are just every day, when they hear somebody in need and help, they’re able to take care of those things.”
Thompson says the troopers are part of the State Troopers Outreach Partnership, which enables them to help people with needs ranging from food to clothing to temporary housing. And he tells us all of those efforts aren’t being mandated by anyone.
“It’s not a push that we have from the top down. It is a bottom-up effort from the troopers themselves. They really buy in. They believe in community outreach and building these relationships. And so they’re out there day in and day out, doing what they do.”
In addition to the Community Policing award, the Niles Post’s Trooper Macon Derleth received the Colonel Kriste Kibbey Etue Community Impact Award. Thompson says Derleth speaks fluent Spanish and networks with the Spanish Speaking community.
“He’s really developed and implemented this bilingual outreach initiative, and it really has definitely improved their understanding, our understanding, and our access and their cooperation with us, whereas they are more comfortable reaching out to police if they have some concerns, if they’re victims of crimes.”
Derleth hosts educational traffic safety presentations in both English and Spanish and organizes events that embody community engagement beyond enforcement.
We asked Thompson how it feels to see his troopers and their efforts in the spotlight.
“I am so proud of these men and women that work here. I’m just a guy who happens to be in the administrative position of being the postman at this point. They’re the ones that are out there doing all the work. They deserve all the recognition. They deserve whatever the awards are for, but they don’t do it for the awards. They do it for because that’s who they are.”
