Quinn Donnelly

HANCOCK — Officers Quinn Donnelly, Bryce Vander West and Brandon Peterson are on the case and serving in the City of Hancock’s Police Department after graduating from the NMU Police Academy in mid August. The three new recruits are all from the area.

Donnelly was hired as a full time patrolman while West and Peterson have been brought in part time. The three recruits were sent to the academy with state grant funds. Hancock Police Chief Tami Sleeman said it was great to put the three officers through the academy. “The governor has put this money out there for law enforcement and it’s just hard to get police officers right now,” Sleeman said. “So the grant’s been been a big help. They’ve never heard of anything like this before where something they would pay to put somebody through.”

Sleeman explained recruits received a small wage while in the academy and normally recruits must have at least 60 college credits to go through the academy. If the recruits are sponsored however, the requirement can be waived which allows more eligible candidates for the academy. The most recent graduating class had 20 total graduates. At the time, all three of Hancock’s officers were going to be part time, but after the departure of a Hancock officer Donnelly received the full-time position.

The hirings were made to try and balance uneven shifts at the department. Sleeman described the system as having an “A team” and “B team” which each work 12 hour shifts. One team has four officers and the other has three. The part time officers will balance the team and fill in for special city events and other officer’s requested time off or sick leave. When there has been no officers to cover gaps in a shift, they are called to take on overtime which leads to fatigue.

“We’ve struggled,” Sleeman said. “We’ve so been short and we’ve really struggled filling shifts so having these part time officers is going to help with coverage on the street.”

According to Sleeman this is the fist time the city has hired part time officers. She also believes with more officers present on the streets it will help the community feel safer, and the part time officers will also help the city save money. “We have a lot of overtime shifts that are available, but I only have so many people to draw from to fill them. So they do get burned out, they get tired, and that’s going to relieve that, and it’s going to cut down on our overtime expense having enough people to fill the shifts and not having to have the same people work all those extra hours,” she said.

The patrolmen will first serve the job under supervision of seasoned officers before going on patrol on their own. Each officer has their own reason for joining the department and all three expressed enthusiasm in serving the community.

“I think that I always like the idea of doing something bigger than myself just being out there and helping people when they need it and things like that,” Peterson said. “So that’s kind of why I decided to get into this job.”

Peterson said the three recruits want to keep the best interest of the community at heart. “We’re here to help, we’re not here to just stir things up. We’re just here to help people and be there for people. So that’s what they should view us (the officers) as, coming into the community,” he said.

West brought up serving an area they all grew up in will present unique challenges. “It’s going to be difficult because all the faces that you’re going to see, you know them from growing up and everything,” he said, sharing a call he responded to regarding a noise complaint involving people with whom he graduated from high school.

West said if discussions are approached like a regular conversation, most people will not be aggressive and interactions between law enforcement and others can remain civil. So far, West said the Hancock Police Department has embraced the three as family. “Someone in Marquette asked me why I chose Hancock. I did a lot of ride alongs. So first I told the guys, the first time I walked in, they treated me like a family member. It wasn’t like any other place I walked into for work, and even the interview didn’t feel like an interview. It just felt like talking to friends that I knew were higher than me, so you’re still respectful,” he said.

Donnelly served in the Army and is still a member of the National guard and the daughter of Houghton Police Chief, John Donnelly. While familiar with Hancock, she grew up in Houghton and said she now sees the Hancock side of the canal differently than before, though still part of a wider community which includes Houghton and the rest of the county.

“Everyone is backing each other up, no matter what,” Donnelly said. “I’ve noticed, especially just being here for just here for just a couple weeks, any call you’re on it’s a bigger call, everyone’s there from every department. If it’s a Hancock call, it’s not just gonna be Hancock most of the time. And it’s awesome to see. Our chief tells us that too. She’s said ‘If you hear something over in Houghton and it’s gonna be something that they could probably use help with, go over there.'”

Donnelly said three new faces to the department could help the community by offering three new approaches to dealing with problems they will be called into assess. The three new recruits received glowing reviews from the academy according to Sleeman.

“Even though they’re very young, and I have never heard so many wonderful things about this last Academy in general,” she said. “I’ve received calls from Northern’s different instructors, received calls from other chiefs, I’ve had people reach out to me about the way this group has carried themselves and how professional they are. They really they represent the City of Hancock, and I think that’s a very proud thing when you hear all those wonderful things about them.”