City Blog

To the Battle Creek Police team, and the Battle Creek and Bedford Township communities:

I feel honored and humbled to serve as your interim chief of police. I am blessed to have this opportunity and I am excited to serve in a new role. The Battle Creek Police Department is an outstanding organization. The people who work for the department are second to none and the BCPD is in an exceptional position. This is a direct result of the vision, dedication, and leadership of Chief Jim Blocker. I look forward to continuing the momentum generated by Chief Blocker’s efforts.

The foundation of a police department is its relationship with the community it serves. The BCPD will continue to work with the community and our staff to grow and strengthen this bond. We will work together to further build an organization that is transparent, responsive, accountable, innovative and energetic in the delivery of public safety services in Battle Creek and Bedford Township.

The BCPD will be smart in its operations, judicious in how it allocates resources, accountable and transparent. To fulfill our mission, the department’s staff and the people who live in our coverage area will have a voice in the strategic planning process and the operations of the department. This process will be inclusive and reflect the diversity of our community and the talent of our officers.

The future holds much promise.  Moving forward, we must understand what works organizationally, how it works and where it works. The answer to these questions will provide the framework of our operations. To succeed we must design our programs for flexibility, use innovative ideas, identify outdated approaches, take risks, and continually evaluate our processes. We must use real-time, accurate and actionable data as the platform for our decision-making and actions. This information will be available to the community via a new “Outward Facing Neighborhood Dashboard”. This data will provide neighborhoods with details of where and when crime is occurring, making them aware and keeping them informed. 

The primary responsibility of the Battle Creek Police Department is public safety achieved by reducing crime, fear and disorder. Integral to that responsibility is a department that conducts its activities lawfully and constitutionally while ensuring everyone is treated with dignity and respect.  We will be a police department that protects individual rights and freedoms, as well as values the contributions made by every member of the organization and community members. Our mission will be built on integrity, accountability, transparency and respect.

As the department serves the community you can expect excellence from our sworn and civilian members. Paramount to achieving our mission to provide the very best possible service is recruiting, hiring and retaining a diverse and professional workforce. Training and education must be an integral part of our development as an organization. We will modernize equipment and technology to support our staff as we implement public safety strategies.  Our leadership team will work diligently to ensure staff is accountable to each other and the community we serve.

Three principles will guide our efforts and serve as the cornerstones for developing programs, pursuing opportunities and delivering enhanced services to Battle Creek and Bedford Township.

Integrity

To have more effective community collaboration, the BCPD’S priority will be building and maintaining relationships with our neighbors and business owners who live and work in Battle Creek and Bedford Township. We will be intentional and inclusive with neighborhood outreach and engagement. We will work alongside community members to solve problems and celebrate success. The Battle Creek Police Department will be accessible, inclusive, transparent and effective in its communication and practices.

We will reduce crime and improve public safety with lawful practices that respect all who live here, as well as visitors, and ensure the safety of our officers.

We will build trust between the community and the BCPD, and we will do so in a constitutional, consistent and compassionate manner.

Collaboration

Public safety is the responsibility of the entire community. Neighbors, parents, youth, business owners, educators, and community leaders all play a role in keeping the community safe. The BCPD will work diligently to create and sustain the kind of partnerships necessary to improve the quality of life in our neighborhoods. 

We will collaborate with our partners in the social service and public health communities to address the challenges posed by mental health, developmental disabilities, domestic violence, drug, and alcohol dependency. We will increase our ability to respond to individuals in crisis by growing the number of officers trained in behavioral emergency response.   Additionally, BCPD recently was awarded a grant related to these situations. We are currently working with our partners in developing a Community Crisis Response Team. This team will be located in our Fusion Center and work closely with our partners throughout the county to provide individuals with the appropriate resources for better outcomes.

We will also work with existing partners and create new partnerships to develop and implement programs focused on preventing youth violence and their involvement in the criminal justice system.

Smart Policing

Data, information, intelligence and evidence-based practices will guide our strategies and tactics. We will track, report and respond to crime using a management model that looks at crime daily and uses multi-agency strategies to direct our resources and address the persons, activities and places that are disrupting the quality of life in our neighborhoods. 

The department’s crime prevention and reduction strategies will be based on:

• Accurate and timely information
• Community collaboration and problem solving
• Rapid deployment of resources
• Effective and procedurally just tactics
• Relentless follow-up and assessment

We must continuously review and refine our policies, procedures, and operations to increase efficiency and effectiveness. We will look for opportunities to reduce bureaucracy and operating costs. We will ensure that the right people with the appropriate training are in the right positions to successfully execute and assess the implementation of our action plan.  We will develop our future leaders by exposing them to public safety best practices.

We will adopt and promote a mindset of never being satisfied with “good enough”. We will invite our employees to challenge assumptions based on past experiences and scrutinize “the way we’ve always done things”. By committing to creativity and innovation, we will challenge our most basic assumptions – test, tweak and redesign our core activities. We will create a culture of performance and service.

The future holds tremendous opportunities, but there will be challenges. However, the members of the Battle Creek Police Department, working in partnership with the community, will meet these moments head-on. The BCPD will deliver the level of service our neighbors, business, and visitors deserve.

Shannon Bagley
Interim Chief
Battle Creek Police Department

City leaders are pleased to share the results from this year’s National Community Survey, which gives neighbors a chance to share ratings and opinions on city services and Battle Creek generally.

We share the top highlights below, and the full results report is available on the city’s website. Reports from previous surveys also are available.

Stay tuned for additional information and discussions around how we will use these results in our projects and services. We appreciate every neighbor who participated! Thank you!

The city again worked with The NCS, provided by the National Research Center at Polco. While the city customized a small number of questions to seek input on particular issues, the majority of the questions remain the same, allowing us to make meaningful comparisons with our previous NCS results from 2018 and 2015.

While our goal is to ask your input on this survey every three years, the COVID-19 pandemic and other city needs delayed us from 2021 to 2022. We already have plans for the next National Community Survey in 2025.

Some notable, overall highlights for us this year:

• Safety is a continued priority for our community. About 9 in 10 neighbors said the overall safety of Battle Creek should be a focus priority over the next two years. This is similar to the response in 2018, and related survey question results remain stable. 
   
   This information may help inform a current project in the city, a police/fire/EMS services study, to make sure those services best meet the needs of our community.
   
  Other safety-related highlights:
  1. About 4 in 10 neighbors gave positive ratings to the overall feeling of safety in Battle Creek.
  2. About 75% reported feeling safe in the neighborhood and commercial areas during the day.
  3. Nearly half felt very or somewhat safe from violent crime (48%) and property crime (45%)
      
• Some aspects of our economy are on the rise, and this remains an important focus area for our community. Neighbors rated the overall health of our economy low – 17% excellent or good – and of high importance, at 91% essential or very important. We know that the COVID-19 pandemic likely had a high impact on these results.
   
  However, we saw significantly higher ratings around economic development, which speaks to the city’s and community’s great focus on attracting businesses to the city, and helping small businesses start and grow. Neighbors rated Battle Creek 51% excellent or good as a place to work – up over 10% from 2018. Neighbors rated employment opportunities (43%) and overall quality of business and service establishments (46%) about 20% higher than 2018 in both cases – a huge jump.
   
   
• Neighbors value the ease of car travel here, but identify some opportunities for growth of related services. Survey questions around mobility in the city received similar ratings to previous years. Neighbors praised the ease of travel by car (75% excellent or good), and gave positive marks to traffic flow on major streets (60%), and ease of public parking (56%).
   
   Only about 4 in 10 neighbors were pleased with the ease of walking in the city, and the ease of travel by bike. About one-third gave positive marks to the ease of travel by public transportation and the overall quality of our transportation system. It is worth noting that 77% of neighbors said they have NOT used public transportation instead of driving in the last 12 months.
   
   Battle Creek Transit has worked hard in recent years to provide the best service to the community. Of note is that BCT continued operating through the pandemic, as other transit systems had to shut down. BCT also added the BCGo on-demand service, and increased fares for the first time in nearly 20 years, to make sure we can continue and improve operations.
   
   Neighbors might see additional polls about our transit services, so we can learn more about ways you think we can improve. Also watch for more information from BCT and other agencies around Calhoun County about the potential for a county-wide public transportation authority. We have helped study this idea, and agency leaders are having conversations with officials across the county.
   
  For street-related services, responses remain consistent since 2018, with room for improvement:
  1. Nearly half approve of snow removal services and street lighting
  2. Traffic signal timing – 42% excellent or good
  3. Traffic enforcement – 41% excellent or good
  4. Street cleaning – 36% excellent or good
  5. Street repair was the lowest-performing item in this set, at 13% excellent or good
      

We also asked some customized questions about traffic calming methods, an important issue in our neighborhoods. The overwhelming majority of neighbors (90%) report you support enhanced signage in the city. Additional traffic enforcement saw support from about 7 in 10 neighbors. Adding speed bumps (51%) and installing roundabouts (47%) received mixed reviews.

• Not quite one-third of neighbors see excellent/good opportunities for education, culture, and the arts. Results were similar around opportunities to attend cultural/arts/music activities, and community support for the arts.
   
   We see an opportunity for growth here, as arts and culture is a goal important to our City Commission. A great addition to the community in recent years was the origami sculpture competition and display downtown. Since the start of the pandemic, we have seen a gradual return of some of the great cultural and art events the community has been missing.
   
   This is an important goal to the community, too, with 80% saying these opportunities are essential/very important as a focus priority in the next two years.
   
• From a communications and engagement perspective, we see a great opportunity for growth. Neighbors rated us higher than in 2018 for welcoming your involvement, but it still gives us much room for improvement at 34%. 
   
   We asked about neighbors’ sources of city information, and learned that the highest number of you (27%) don’t know how to receive city information, which prevents you from participating in our activities. You also reported in this question that local media outlets (78%) and direct mailings (85%) are a source of information for you.
   
   We plan to use this information to work on our communications to the community. To start, we are considering a direct-mailed community newsletter in 2023.
   
   

We are happy to see neighbors’ priorities in this year’s NCS match up with the priority city goals you helped us set last year in our priority-based budgeting process. More information is available at battlecreekmi.gov/pbb. As a reminder, those goals are:

• Economy
• Safety
• Transportation/Mobility
• Utilities
• Environment/Physical Appearance/Community Design
• Arts and Culture
• Recreation
• Governance

Survey methods

The 2022 survey was mailed to a random sample of 2,700 city addresses. About 4% of those were returned as undeliverable or vacant, leaving 2,589 households receiving the survey. Of those, 290 completed the survey, giving us a response rate of 11%.

While the number of responses is lower than 2018, the margin of error is no greater than plus or minus 6% on any given question. Statistically, this gives a 95% level of confidence in our results as representative of the Battle Creek community, and we are pleased to have meaningful information.

Later in the process, the survey was posted online for anyone to complete, and saw a response of 420, slightly higher than 2018. We left the online version open for 10 weeks and, partway through, removed the requirement for respondents to give their email address, an NCS default procedure. We heard the feedback from neighbors that you did not want to do this, so we removed it.

The survey was available in Spanish and Burmese. Instructions in these languages were on the random sample mailings, allowing neighbors to complete the survey online in their language of choice. The open, online survey also gave neighbors the option to choose one of these languages.

Three neighbors completed the Spanish translation, and five completed the Burmese translation of the survey.

With Patty Hoch-Melluish, environmental and storm service manager

The City of Battle Creek is getting some financial help to protect our natural resources. We have received a number of grants in 2022 to support our environmental programs.

Pollinator Habitat

• The Michigan Department of Natural Resources provided $17,500 to install 8.5 acres of pollinator habitat along the city’s Linear Path on Jackson Street and in the Leila Arboretum. This included the cost of site preparation, pollinator seed mix, 25 trees and 760 native plant plugs. This pollinator area was converted from mowed turf grass, and now provides food and habitat for wildlife, while also reducing fuel use and emissions with less-frequent mowing.

Volunteers plant native plants along the Linear Park path to draw pollinators.

Stormwater Management

• Dart Container Corporation in Mason, Michigan, awarded the City $4,000 worth of stormwater management products through their “Keep Marinas Clean” program. These grants are available to organizations that conduct work near stormwater inlets where pollutants have the potential to be transported to local surface waters. The City received 15 “gutter guards” and 18 “filter socks” to prevent sediment from entering the storm sewer system. Remember that water – and anything that flows with it – that enters our stormwater inlets goes straight to our waterways without treatment.

City Engineering Technicians, Melissa Whitcomb and Amber Whitcomb, install gutter guards at a storm sewer inlet.

• The Midwest Glacial Lakes Partnership awarded funds to the city for support of the project diverting stormwater away from Goguac Lake to an existing retention pond. This project will eliminate stormwater additions from nearly 35 acres of urban commercial and residential areas draining to the lake. The $75,000 grant will go toward improving water quality and fisheries habitat within this popular Battle Creek lake.

Linear Park Improvements

These projects are possible in part by grants from the Battle Creek Community Foundation (BCCF).

• BCCF provided $4,000 assistance for an invasive species survey along seven miles of the Linear Path, from Emmett Street to Stringham Road on the north side of the Battle Creek and Kalamazoo Rivers. Invasive species can degrade wildlife habitat, outcompete beneficial native species, and create nuisance conditions. This survey and management plan will help guide the city’s future invasive species management efforts to more efficiently manage the resource.
• BCCF provided $1,500 for the purchase and installation of a new park bench along the Linear Path on Jackson Street. The bench will provide a much-needed spot to take a rest and enjoy the Kalamazoo River and the new pollinator plantings.
• The BCCF Thelma Greer City Tree Fund will support the purchase of and site preparation for 15 trees along the Linear Path on Jackson Street. We will select tree species to enhance the habitat for pollinators and other wildlife, while also providing shade and increased aesthetics for park visitors.

Volunteers from DENSO plant trees along the Linear Park path.

River Cleanups

• We received a  grant for $3,839 from the Michigan Clean Water Corps (MiCorps) to purchase supplies to host a river cleanup event. The city was able to purchase two boats, a trailer and accessories, and a picnic lunch for our volunteers. The boats will be used for future in-stream cleanup events to help keep the City and our waterways clean. Thanks to city staff suggestions and voting, look for The Creek Battler and The Kalamazoom on a waterway near you!

Volunteers celebrate a successful cleanup on the Battle Creek River.

A boatful of trash removed from the Battle Creek River.

We want to extend a big thank you to all the organizations that provided funding, and to all the volunteers who gave generously of their time to support these important projects in our community. It is making a big difference!