Efforts to expand an ethnic and gender mix within police personnel continue in Saginaw and most other cities.
Where will we find the job candidates? The Michigan Banner today, as a main focus of this report, will present stories from four city officers, three who are minorities and one who is female. Leaders in the Police Department and among our residents believe these sorts of examples may help with recruiting.
Through history, community relations in law enforcement have led to challenges and at times to outright discord. This focus has become more intense with highly-publicized deaths during the past decade, including George Floyd last year and Saginaw’s own Milton Hall in 2012.
Proposed reforms range from more accountability, to residency requirements, to increased training, all the way to “defunding the police” for other purposes, but a common theme going back through all these years is improved integration in hiring, so that police “look like” the neighborhoods where they serve rather than appearing as an “occupying force.”
Saginaw’s biggest steps in this regard took place during the 1980s and 1990s, in spite of police union resistance and lawsuits from white officers claiming reverse discrimination. By 2000, the turn of the millennium, the counts included:
- 155 officers total
- 32 African American
- 17 Latino
- 25 female
But the millennium was when the biggest cutbacks started to take hold, creating barriers to integration based in part to last hired/first fired. This year’s 2021 numbers have nosedived:
- 60 officers total
- 7 African American
- 5 Latino
- 7 female
This scenario has remained virtually frozen since 2015, when Saginaw-born Robert Ruth was hired as chief, and promised to aim for racial balance in the wake of the Milton Hall slaying. Ruth’s predecessor, Gerald Cliff told the City Council repeatedly that minority hiring was a challenge because Saginaw could not financially compete with Detroit suburbs that offered starting pay in the range of $10,000 higher. It turned out that Cliff had departed the top Detroit ranks with a reverse discrimination claim of his own.
Lt. David Kendziorski is a 25-year Saginaw police veteran who is leading the latest recruitment push. He joined Ruth in stating that a key to overcoming Cliff’s conundrum is to pursue young men and women from the mid-Michigan region.
Among the officers who the Banner features today, Julian Guevara is a graduate of Nouvel Catholic Central High School, Vince Jackson attended Mackinaw Academy, Desirae Kzinowek is a product of Essexville Garber High and Nick Jacobs comes from Pinconning High. Kendziorski himself grew up in Bay City.
“At a time like this interest may seem to be at an all-time low,” Kendiorski says, “but at the same time, this is a great time to reach out to our different populations. We have many opportunities for personal development and rewards. There are opportunities on patrol, within our investigative arena or in our traffic bureau. If a young person wants to become part of the change, we are here.”
When Ruth was hired six years ago, he issued a written statement that says:
“We’re going to do everything we can to mentor our youth in Saginaw so they want to be police officers and firefighters in the future. We should reflect the community we police. Hopefully we can change that in the next few years
“Diversity issues aren’t just a problem here at our department. It’s a problem for every municipality in the United States.
“We are taking new applicants right now and we’re also going to start an explorer program. Anything we can do to recruit and encourage minority candidates to come to the city of Saginaw is great. It would be great if we could hire people from Saginaw, because then they’ll stay like I did.”
“My game plan is to focus on education, to educate people in the schools through the explorer programs. But we can’t do it ourselves. It has to start with the family and the parenting and we need help through members of the clergy and the education system too. We’re just one element of that.”
Bobby Deleon, president of the Saginaw Mexican American Council, MAC is among community leaders who support the recruitment effort.
“When we were small kids, we played cops and robbers and some of us would say we wanted to be police officers or firefighters, but after that, none of us really thought any more” about going into that type of work, Deleon says.
“Nowadays, there seems to be a growing lack of trust between the community and the police, and so I encourage young Latino men and women to consider these careers.”
The Saginaw Police Department web site at saginaw-mi.com contains information on employment opportunities, and Kendiorski’s phone number is 759-1235. Following are the recruitment and startup stories of four Saginaw officers:
JULIAN GUEVARA
Saginaw city police arrange “ride-along” experiences to provide residents with a first-hand look at what they do on a daily basis.
But Julian Guevara wasn’t just another citizen 15 years ago. He was a teenager who was exploring his career choices.
“I must have asked for about five of the ride-alongs, at different times,” he recalls. “I liked the camaraderie, the brotherhood, the fast-paced work, and also, the thought of putting on a uniform and looking professional.”
As a result, the 2007 graduate of Nouvel Catholic Central High School reports to work as Detective Julian Guevara.
He also remembers a pair of ride-along stories that reflect polar opposites for a police officer.
One was a car chase, “zero to one hundred in an instant,” but the other was a slower-paced drama.
“There was a young teen who went missing, who had not done so before,” Guevara says. “It was really hard on the father and the mother. I was able to see the compassion that the officers showed toward the family and the tremendous effort that they put forth.”
He received his training through Central Michigan University and Delta College and began his career in Atlanta.
“I just wanted a change, to leave Michigan for a while,” says Julian, currently engaged to be married, “but I always planned to come back. This is where I’m from. My family is here.”
In spite of criticism of police, Guevara says family and friends are totally supportive.
“They understand that not everybody who is a police officer is a bad police officer,” he says. “They see that this is a fine profession and that they benefit from our service.”
Future plans include ambition for promotions, and to one day specialize in tactical law enforcement training.
Meanwhile, he maintains full awareness of the risks that go with his service. He speaks of initiating a car chase in Atlanta that led into a housing complex where snipers had engaged in a murderous shooting spree only a few days prior.
“I was by myself in that courtyard for a moment, spontaneous, and thankfully nothing took place,” Guevara recalls, “and then there was that feeling of relief, for all those blue lights to arrive with me.”
VINCE JACKSON
His assignment was to help transport a resident to a mental health review, but Officer Vince Jackson of the Saginaw Police Department paused during the encounter.
He was familiar with elder relatives who had gone through alzheimer’s and dementia, and he felt this might be a similar scenario.
“I said I was in no way a mental health expert, but with the shaking and so forth, I felt that I recognized some of the symptoms,” he notes.
Jackson’s feedback helped to steer the woman to a proper course of treatment, and he says this is a primary reason he chose to become a policeman.
“You know your own community, and you see that this is a way you can help,” explains Jackson, a 2005 product Mackinaw Academy, followed by Delta College training. “In addition to our own knowledge and backgrounds, we also have access to information and to the local agencies.”
He adds, “Little kids say they want to become police officers and firefighters. Me, I never stopped.”
After a decade serving at the Saginaw County Jail, Vince enlisted for police work and came on board in his hometown four years ago.
“I have looked into working other places, especially Detroit, but being from Saginaw gives me a perspective that keeps me at home,” he explains.
Besides that, Jackson and his wife, Rayshon, are raising a son who now is in first grade.
He says he is “100 percent” fulfilled by his career decision for law enforcement, in spite of skepticism that he knows exists.
“We see some officers who violate codes of conduct, and I’m always glad for the times when families receive the justice they deserve,” he says. “At the same time, as officers, we receive information on the less-publicized cases involving use of force.”
At times, he points out, restraints are justified and necessary.
“A number of people don’t like police right now,” he acknowledges. “They won’t say anything directly to you. But at the same time, people will roll down their car window, or just stop and say, ‘We appreciate you. You are doing a good job.’ “
He encourages young people to ask themselves not only about possibly choosing law enforcement, but also to consider the types of police work that may best suit their goals and their personalities.
“People have different reasons for becoming police officers,” Jackson says. “and there are different lines of law enforcement service that they may enter. One may say they simply want to help people, while another may be stronger, saying, ‘I want to get these illegal drugs off of the streets.’ Each can find a role.”
Vince says he is comfortable in either approach.
He explains, “A woman said to me, ‘I hear it being said, defund the police and use more social workers. But if something happens and I have to call, I want to see a police officer on my steps.’ “
He adds, “All organizations at times are in need of some sort of reform. But with police, some of the people who are speaking are not familiar with what we do.” He suggests a first step of better educating the public.
DESIRAE KZINOWEK
The address was familiar to Desirae Kzinowek and her fellow officers. And the story was all too sadly common.
The emergency was that the caller was being assaulted by her male companion, but by the time Kzinowek and her patrol teammate arrived, the victim would hesitate and fail to follow through on the grievance.
“Finally, on this one response, we had extra time to talk for a longer period, because another call did not arrive right away,” Desirae explains. “I was better able to express to her, ‘You can tell me, you can trust me.’ And so at last she gave a statement that allowed us to take the man to jail, and she agreed to enter the Underground Railroad (women’s shelter), where they provided her with mental health counseling and eventually a ride back to her home state.”
This anecdote summarizes one of the main reasons why Kzinowek chose to pursue a career in law enforcement, beginning with her childhood in the Thumb’s Ubly community and taking shape at Garber High School in Essexville, a Bay City suburb, where she graduated in 2014.
“When we get out into the field, women often will open up more with a female officer,” she notes, while adding that this is not only a woman-to-woman deal. Often times children, and even some grown men, will feel more comfortable which what she describes as a “softer, approachable” police presence.
At Delta College, Desiree enrolled in “Three Plus One” programming that enabled her to achieve a 2017 bachelor’s degree in law enforcement from Ferris State University while remaining close to home. She started later that year in Saginaw.
All along, she acknowledges reactions along “both sides” from family and friends.
“Those who are not as supportive have never liked police,” she says, based both on personal experiences and negative national publicity, “but still they tell me, ‘It’s okay for you if that’s what you want do to.'”
She’s in her fourth year, and she hasn’t changed her mind. Her only regret is that Covid-19 has thwarted her from getting more involved in personalized community policing in her assigned southwest area. Her longer-term goals are to achieve some rank, starting with sergeant, and to explore teaching.
“I still love it,” Kzinowek says. “I enjoy meeting people, and helping people, and every day we have different experiences.”
NICK JACOBS
Police recruits sometimes will arrive from virtually any place at any time, and Sergeant Nick Jacobs with Saginaw police is an example. Unlike other officers featured in this article, he did not aim for law enforcement as a child or teenager. He was engaged in a physical education curriculum at Saginaw Valley State University, when a friend encouraged him to try a pair of Delta College classes in criminal justice.
“I was hooked,” he recalls. “The study of criminal law, the nature of the work, it all clicked with me.”
He served stints at the Saginaw County Jail and with the Tuscola County Sheriff’s Department before he enlisted with city police in 1998.
At the time, Jacobs was one of 17 Latino officers out of 155 total. Today, he’s among 5 out of 60. And so the number is lower but the percentage or proportion is about the same.
“When I graduated from the Police Academy, there were about 40 of us who finished,” he recalls, speaking of the total group. “In this last most recent class, there were 9. It’s harder to get people signed on to a career, with the negative light that is cast now.”
Nick answers skeptics mainly by standing up for himself.
“As long as you are responsible for yourself and your actions, there are many positives,” he says. “There is great camaraderie among officers. We all depend on one another. You won’t find that in other careers.”
Officers constantly say their work isn’t always glamorous, like on TV shows, but one of Jacobs’ favorite personal stories could be placed within a script.
One day a serial crook held up a gas station, and then carjacked an elderly woman, and then robbed a dollar store. While his peers flooded the store location, Nick decided to linger near the car theft scene. Sure enough, he spotted the stolen vehicle and initiated a car chase that led to the suspect’s arrest after a crash with an oncoming state trooper.
“It was all quite cinematic,” he says, in summary.
Jacobs’ strategic decision led to the scenario, showing that officers often must think for themselves rather than always following strict procedures. This demonstrates why one of his favorite functions is to serve as a training supervisor.
“The recruits tell me that I was their toughest instructor, but that they also learned the most from me,” he notes. “That’s the best compliment, and they also keep me sharp.”
Nick tells job-seekers they won’t get rich, but they can make a good living with a retirement age that is young by comparison.
“To be honest, there are all the great points but there will always be negatives,” Jacobs says. “Most people in Saginaw, the vast majority, appreciate having us around, but there will always be naysayers.”
