Brandon Twp.-Hello and goodbye.
The township board welcomed Oakland County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Dale Brown as the new Brandon substation commander this week.
Brown is a familiar face as he served as a patrol investigator in the township from 2009-2013.
‘I am excited to be back and I look forward to serving the residents of Brandon Township in this new capacity,? he said on Wednesday. ‘Things in Brandon are in some ways better than they were three years ago and a lot of that has to do with the pickup in the economy.?
During his previous stint in the township, Brown was honored with a professional excellence award from OCSO for his work in helping solve a string of home invasions. After a recommendation by the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office Special Victims Unit, he also served as a team member in the federally funded ‘Jurisdictions of Excellence? program to develop a statewide model policy for investigation of sexual assaults.
Brown will replace former Substation Commander Greg Glover who has been promoted to lieutenant and has moved to the OCSO Rochester Hills Substation.
However, whether Glover will return in the near future to the Brandon substation remains in question.
At their Dec. 7 meeting, the township board discussed the possibility of increasing the command staff at the substation to include a lieutenant position. The township currently contracts for one detective sergeant, nine deputy II positions, and two patrol investigators (one of which is a school liaison officer).
Since the township began contracting with the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office for police services, there has only ever been a sergeant as the substation commander, although most other substations in the county now have lieutenants. Undersheriff Mike McCabe has told Supervisor Kathy Thurman that the OCSO’s preference is that if the township upgrade to have a lieutenant overseeing the substation, they must also keep a sergeant position for the station. To have both a lieutenant and sergeant at the substation would mean an annual contract increase of $35,459.
Glover told the board at the meeting it is a supervision issue.
‘The problem with having just a detective and sergeant is that I’m on call 24/7,? he said. ‘By having a lieutenant and sergeant, you could add supervision across all shifts.?
He noted that there are approximately 5,300 calls for police in the township per year and the nature of the calls has changed to ones requiring a supervisor on scene, using as an example one from last month in which a man armed with a crossbow was threatening to shoot deputies.
‘I support (adding a lieutenant at the substation),? said Trustee Jayson Rumball. ‘The community has told us time and again that police protection is important.?
Trustee Bill DeWitt agreed with Rumball and asked if the budget supported the addition.
Thurman said the cost is something that will have to be considered by the full board, as well as comparisons of police staffing to other townships of similar size, crime rates in the township over the past decade, and the benefits of having a lieutenant at the substation.
Glover added that he has been assured that if the board decided to add a lieutenant to the township substation he would be assigned to return in that capacity.
Thurman said the issue will be on the board’s Jan. 4 meeting agenda.