A local sheriff is trying to recruit more officers and he’s starting by talking to high school students about law enforcement.
Buena Vista Township Sheriff Reggie Williams is seeking feedback.
“I don’t want one perspective, I just want multiple perspectives because that’s a huge deal right now,” Williams said.
The problem Williams is facing is a shortage of police officers.
“It’s very hard to find interested people. And when I say big, we don’t have the numbers we used to have. We don’t get the interest we used to have,” Williams said.
Williams wanted 15 officers and he currently has seven. Williams will go straight to the source and talk to high school students about law enforcement.
“But to get good police officers, it’s always been an uphill fight, but now it’s even more so because of the close scrutiny and everything that law enforcement does,” Williams said. the law has had to go through in the past few years.
He realized that some departments made recruiting difficult, especially for smaller departments like his.
“But when I ask questions like you know, when it’s happening across the country, what do you think of your officers locally? And they all explain that we don’t, you know. See, judge them based on what we see,” Williams said.
Meanwhile, Saginaw, where he is a member of the city council, is seeing a rise in violence like the rest of the country.
“A lot of things have to do with social media. Debates and tensions on social media. Family dramas don’t. And what we’ve found is that they’re isolated incidents. These things happen at home. where it’s oriented. But it’s a lot,” Williams said.
Williams hoped more officers meant being proactive rather than reactive and could assist Saginaw whenever they could. Williams plans to visit Saginaw Academy of Arts and Sciences, Arthur Hill, Heritage, and Swan Valley High School in the coming weeks to speak with more students.
