TAYLOR, Mich. (WXYZ) — This week, 7 Action News went to Taylor to talk with police Chief John Blair about the challenges and triumphs in the department.
He said his officers have seen improvements over the years and more are needed. While we walked with Blair, he had a smile on his face.
“Yeah well, I'm a Down River kid born and raised, so I kind of always been familiar with Down River. But Taylor always had that 'Taylor Tucky' phrase that they always threw out there. And this is so much more than that,” Blair said. “You have some upper class, you have some middle class, you have some lower class. We have all sorts of different businesses, beautiful shopping mall. But Taylor's not what everybody seems to think it is. There's much more to it.”
In Blair’s 32 years as a police officer, he’s seen a lot of change.
“The way we treat people, the body cameras, in-car cameras, everything we track, all the training, things that have really been a transformational change since that point, and it's continuing. It looks like it's picking up speed,” he said.
Another change he’s seen in recent years is a younger force.
“We don't see a whole lot of people with white hair anymore in police work, so a lot of people have retired, left our department and left law enforcement. So (officers are) young. They're very, very empathetic now,” the chief said.
Previously, Blair expressed his desire for reforms and mental health concerns with officers. He says the department has made progress.
“We made tremendous strides with that and not only through a policy thing but talking to our officers on a daily basis — just doesn’t have to be police work that's bothering them,” Blair said. “Our officers anonymously can pick up the phone, reach out through a text or an email and talk to someone.”
As a police officer and chief, there are always concerns. For Blair, it’s safety.
“It’s the dreaded phone call in the middle of the night, now we had a shooting, something violent happened. God forbid we had an officer shot or hurt. You know, we've unfortunately had to go through that here in the city of Taylor,” Blair said.
But Blair said the community has been supportive of the department, even during bad times.
“We've had tremendous support, even in our bad days when we've stepped on our own toes and done some things that we either shouldn't have done or we just made mistakes as human beings,” the chief said. “We've had tremendous support from the people in here calling us up, sending lunches over to departments, understanding that we're human beings and we do make mistakes at time.”
