ESCANABA, Mich. (WZMQ) – With the recent retirement of the department’s previous director, a new leadership team has taken the helm at Escanaba Public Safety.
Former captain Darren Smith has been promoted to director. He says it has been a smooth transition for the department, with the addition of a new K-9 unit and new drone equipment already in progress.
“With our drone program, currently we have three drone pilots and a fourth on the way,” Smith said. “We’re just way behind in technology, I believe. The drone will be used for search-and-rescue, lost people on firefighting scenes, thermal imaging, night vision. Instead of putting officers in the line of danger, we can use an object instead.”
In his new role, Smith plans to pursue funding sources to further expand the drone program. Some of his other priorities are employee recruitment and retention.
“We have one recruit that’s in Traverse City at the police academy currently, and we still have three openings,” Smith said. “We’re anticipating a retirement in December as well, so that’s one of the main goals, to fill all the positions so we can kind of work from there.”
Taking Smith’s former position is new Captain Austin Young. An NMU graduate, Young has been with the department for nine years.
“I grew up here, I’ve been here my whole life, and my first job was here,” he said. “Obviously, it’s a little culture change from the road to taking more of an admin position, but I’m excited for the future and what this department can become.”
Young says he aims to support the existing Public Safety staff while helping the department move forward.
“We’re looking at kind of a new style, I guess you’d call it,” he said. “Kind of be more involved with the public relations, use social media a little bit more, use the news outlets, as well as, obviously, you’ve got to take care of the internal guys. Even though we’re down on people, I think the culture right now has been on a rise, and hopefully we can continue that.”
The new leadership team is also looking forward to continuing public outreach programs, like the Public Safety Citizens Academy, which returns this winter. To inquire about the Citizens Academy, email ayoung@escanaba.org or dsmith@escanaba.org.
