ROCKFORD, Mich.—The Rockford area has a new community service trooper.

The Michigan State Police selected Trooper Martin Miller to take over the position.  Miller is expected to focus on educating the community on bullying, inappropriate text messages and other emerging trends.  He’ll also provide youth mentoring curriculum for schools, evaluate the impact of policing programs on the community, attend community meetings and educate residents on crimes including elder abuse, ID theft and Internet crimes.

Trooper Miller can be reached at (616) 866-4411.

From Dr. Michael Shibler, Rockford Public Schools Superintendent

From: http://www.cannontwp.org/

As you know, last year the Township Board unanimously voted to reduce the dedicated Sheriff’s patrol from 16 hours per day to 12.  This was decision was made in collaboration with Sheriff Stelma and Captain Kevin Kelley.  We have received a detailed breakdown of the comparison between the two shifts.  The results are interesting.

Traffic Citations decreased from 1,051 with 16 hours of coverage to 649 hours of coverage for 12 hours of coverage.  We expected a decrease because our focus shifted from writing tickets to patrolling and responding to calls, which we anticipated to increase as I will discuss below.  Additionally, the efforts to deter speeding played a part in this decrease given the deterrence factor of a dedicated car.

Citizen’s Assist decreased from 108 with 16 hours to 101 with 12.  This is a statistically insignificant difference.