jim blocker

Besides crime statistics, the Chief will discuss what the BCPD is doing to prevent violence in the community, with both “violence interruption” and the crisis intervention program.

CIT International made the announcement Thursday that Chief Jim Blocker has been selected as their 2019 Police Chief of the Year.

The Albion Department of Public Safety says that last week, 18 Calhoun County officers became members of the Calhoun County Crisis Intervention Team, including 4 of their ADPS officers.

For Battle Creek's budget for Fiscal Year 2018, many cuts had to be made in the middle of the year for unexpected revenue shortfalls from the state. For the next Fiscal Year, some of those cuts could linger on.

Commissioner Lynn Ward Gray says in a press release that three Can I Get a Witness? Community Meetings will be taking place this month, in cooperation with the Battle Creek Police Chief Jim Blocker, the City of Battle Creek, and the hosting churches.

The current backup center is located in the Battle Creek Police Department building, but since that building is set to be demolished it needs a new home.

The Commission’s agenda for their May 15 meeting shows that an ordinance will be introduced, that specifically prohibits retail fraud. The City already has an ordinance against theft, but without a specific shoplifting ordinance, the cases must be handled under the state’s anti-shoplifting law.

The City of Battle Creek made the disclosure Tuesday, and said that they would not go into details about Chief David Schmaltz’s leave out of respect for his privacy; Schmaltz says that he is taking time to “focus on his personal well-being and consider his future options.” Schmaltz has been fire chief since 2014.

The City of Battle Creek says Sunday that the unnamed officer was off duty and in his personal vehicle, when he crashed into a utility pole around 4am in the City of Springfield. He wasn’t hurt and was arrested shortly afterwards.

The City of Battle Creek has taken exception to a recent ranking by the website 24/7 Wall St. that listed Battle Creek as one of the 25 worst cities to raise children in; in response, they have pulled out data refuting some claims. The City says that they believe the website’s methodology was “lacking”, particularly in their use of the FBI Uniform Crime Report, particularly when the FBI itself says the crime statistics shouldn’t be used to rank cities.