Meeting with Livonia's Finest – 07/28/09

Good evening supporters.

On July 28th, I was invited to meet with the senior leadership of the Livonia Police Department.

I was a very interesting and enlightening meeting with Livonia's finest. At 10am, I was welcomed in to the Livonia police headquarters by Police chief Stevenson, Deputy chief Caid as well as their four divisional captains. What can I say about such a pleasant and jovial group of law enforcement professionals? They were pleasant, friendly and extremely polite.

Chief Stevenson and I hit it off right away, perhaps because we are both UD Titans or perhaps its because neither of us have time for baloney. I found that trait to be present with his deputy as well as his captains. We spent over an hour talking about their current successes, their recent history as well as their future improvements and what the law enforcement community sees as the challenges facing their department and the city of Livonia both now and in the future.

After our meeting, two of the divisional captains gave me a full tour of their campus and complex; a complete 'behind the scenes' tour. After seeing their complex from the inside out, I arrived at two inescapable conclusions. First, Livonia PD is clearly one of the top five suburban law enforcement agencies. Their staff, resources and equipment is so extensive, that I believe it could rival a city of four times the size. Second, their headquarters is grossly inadequate for the challenges that will be facing them in the 21st century. Despite the increasing loss and depletion of resources, the LPD is continuing their mission of providing the same level of community safety that Livonians have come to expect. They have continued to foster an atmosphere of inter-department cooperation and community crossovers with neighboring communities. It was my extreme pleasure to meet this law enforcement juggernaut however what I found disturbing, what I found inexcusable was the general condition of their headquarters. Their building, made up of three smaller buildings was most definitely not up to the task of providing for the demands of the 21st century peace officer, the LPD should be commended for their ability to adapt to the inadequate condition of the headquarters without sacrificing performance and professionalism. The reason I say that conditions there are inadequate is because for a top notch law enforcement agency, LPD is forced to deal with a complex which has a leaky basement, fractured and disjointed work stations, poor building flow and arrangement, leaky roofs, and a crumbling front entry plaza. They suffer and endure an outmoded and antiquated facility while tens of thousands of dollars are needlessly wasted due to inefficiency or poor management of city resources.

This shows me a complete lack of prioritizing key and critical issues facing the city and these poor management practices must stop. The LPD is the top public service department within the city, if the working and physical conditions of their headquarters is any indication of other departments such as LFD or the DPW, then there is most certainly something wrong with the management of the aforementioned city resources, which has nothing to do with budgetary issues or shortfalls but rather deficient city management.

I would like to thank Chief Stevenson, Deputy Chief Caid and their divisional captains for their time, input and in-depth tour of their facility. They are a terrific group of professionals and I hope that as Livonia's next city council member I will have the opportunity to work with them in the future.

Thank you for your continued interest. Speramus Meliora (we hope for better things).