Chief's Welcome

The City of Battle Creek is a beautiful, diverse and dynamic community. Rich in history and tradition, this city known as "Cereal City" was first discovered by surveyors in 1827. The Village of Milton was settled along the Battle Creek River in 1833, with the river named after a skirmish between the surveyors and Native Americans. By 1850 the settlement had developed into the Village of Battle Creek, named for the river that flows through the center of our downtown today. Just eight years later, we became the City of Battle Creek.

In 1900 the City Council authorized the formation of the Battle Creek Police Department and appointed William H. Farrington as its first chief. He promptly hired nine officers.

Today, 118 years later, the Battle Creek Police Department still serves the community with excellence, pride and resilience. We are committed to ensuring the public safety of all our residents and guests, providing a full spectrum of police services that enable this department to respond efficiently and effectively to meet our community's safety needs.

We are proud of this department and its many members, and we know that you are, too. The Battle Creek Police Department has a responsibility to our community to deliver proactive and creative community policing strategies and an obligation to treat all in our community with dignity, respect, honor and compassion.

I commit to you that we will be open to your suggestions for improvement, comments on performance and will respond to your complaints. Excellence in service is our proud tradition over the past 118 years, and it will continue to be so.

If you have any questions, feel free to call the Police Administration Office Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Our phone number is (269) 966-3375.

Welcome to our community. We are Battle Creek.

Jim Blocker
Chief of Police