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Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety | |
---|---|
Abbreviation | KDPS |
Agency overview | |
Formed | 1983 |
Superseding agency | Kalamazoo Police Department and Kalamazoo Fire Department |
Employees | 257 (sworn officers) |
Jurisdictional structure | |
Operations jurisdiction | Michigan, USA |
Location of Kalamazoo within Kalamazoo County, Michigan | |
Size | 25.11 sq mi (65.03 sq km) |
Population | 74,262 (2010) |
Legal jurisdiction | Kalamazoo, MI |
General nature | |
Operational structure | |
Headquarters | 150 E. Crosstown Kalamazoo, MI |
Agency executive |
|
Facilities | |
Stations | 6 |
Website | |
KDPS Website |
The Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety is the department charged with police, fire and rescue operations in Kalamazoo, Michigan. It is one of the largest public safety departments in the nation, with over 250 sworn officers. Each officer serves as a Police Officer, Firefighter, and Medical First Responder.
The Kalamazoo Police Department and Kalamazoo Fire Department were merged in the 1980s with the goal of saving significant tax payer money while increasing the amount of police and fire protection for its citizens. The merger of the departments was a difficult process on reaching agreement with unions covering the fire department and police department. The difficult effort of the merger of the departments along with the successes was even noted by the United States House of Representatives in the Congressional Record. [1]
As the largest public safety department in the nation, Kalamazoo Public Safety is now considered a model public safety department and often consults and trains other cities throughout the world on the public safety model. [2] [3] [4]
In 1995 a grand jury was convened to investigate missing cash and contraband from Kalamazoo Public Safety's evidence room. [5] [ better source needed ] Although much of the evidence and investigation remains secret and the US Attorney declined to prosecute, the city attorney at the time has publicly acknowledged that the incident happened [6]
In 2013, the department received the results of a year-long, independent study it commissioned on racial targeting. The study showed that police in Kalamazoo were more than twice as likely to pull over black drivers than white drivers. [7] Since this time the department has been working hard to confront the racial bias in its department and has received international news coverage for attempting to address the racial issues the department acknowledges it has. [8]
On April 18, 2011, while responding to a shots fired call in Kalamazoo's Edison neighborhood, PSO Eric Zapata was fatally shot. Officer Zapata was the first officer in Kalamazoo to be killed in the line of duty. [9]
The Department of Public Safety of the State of Texas, commonly known as the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), is a department of the state government of Texas. The DPS is responsible for statewide law enforcement and driver license administration. The Public Safety Commission oversees the DPS. However, under state law, the Governor of Texas may assume command of the department during a public disaster, riot, insurrection, formation of a dangerous resistance to enforcement of law, or to perform his constitutional duty to enforce law. The commission's five members are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Texas Senate, to serve without pay for staggered, six-year terms. The commission formulates plans and policies for enforcing criminal, traffic and safety laws, preventing and detecting crime, apprehending law violators, and educating citizens about laws and public safety.
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Carol Ann Cole was a 17-year-old American homicide victim whose body was discovered in early 1981 in Bellevue, Bossier Parish, Louisiana. The victim remained unidentified until 2015, when DNA tests confirmed her identity. Cole, native to Kalamazoo, Michigan, had been missing from San Antonio, Texas since 1980. Cole's killing remains unsolved, although the investigation is continuing.
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