Oftentimes as citizens in our communities, we don't do our research when it comes to our officials. Especially when the official is not elected, but appointed. Of course, we may know who our mayors, commissioners, and state representatives are. Mostly because we are kind of forced during election time to see yard signs and commercials, and find out each candidate's unique background. But when do we open the curtain to see who is working behind the scenes? When do we make it a priority to see who our city clerks, city managers, and public safety chiefs are? I believe that time is now, so I decided to go meet the Chiefs of the twin cities: Steve Neubecker of St. Joseph City Public Safety and Daniel McGinnes of Benton Harbor City Public Safety.
A Public Safety Chief establishes and maintains a cooperative working relationship with law enforcement, fire, and emergency management personnel in other jurisdictions. This position is usually appointed by a city's board of commissioners or city manager based on a city's charter. The Public Safety Chief outranks every officer in a city's safety field.
Steve Neubecker became the Public Safety Chief for the city of St. Joseph in 2018. This year marks Chief Neubecker’s 29th year in the public safety field—all with St. Joseph. Neubecker grew up in a small community of Beal City, Michigan, outside of Mt. Pleasant. After the passing of his dad when Steve was just fourteen, he grew to love the thought of becoming a law enforcement officer from his godfather, who was a Michigan State Trooper.
After graduating from Beal City High School, Neubecker went on to Ferris State University, where he obtained his Bachelor's Degree in 1994. He then went to Western Michigan University to pursue his Master's Degree. Chief Neubecker is still an active duty officer and firefighter for the city of St. Joseph. “I’m a working chief,” says Neubecker. “I still enjoy doing the job. You'll see me out working the streets, riding with my officers, and on the scenes of fires. Not just being someone in charge but going into the fire. I still love this job and I’m still motivated to do this job and if I can help someone I’ll be there to help them.”
I then wanted to know what are some of the focuses as Public Safety Chief that Mr. Neubecker tries to work on. “One of my main focuses is to build our team,” he said. “Making sure that we have the right officers that are doing the right thing each and every day. They continue to get the correct education and training. That is why we are probably one of the best-trained departments in the state of Michigan.”
But like most departments in the United States, the city of St. Joseph faces obstacles with gaining the community's trust. Neubecker says that “It's a challenging environment right now for law enforcement with social justice movements that are happening across many of our communities. Making sure our officers are well-trained and have good communication skills. We take that extra time to talk to somebody. It's not getting in and getting out. We'll sit on a complaint for two hours if we have to. We’ll sit with an individual for three hours if we have to, to make sure we’re doing the right thing for everybody. It's a challenge in society today to gain the trust of the community but all we can do is continue to build each and every single day.”
The Student Movement is the official student newspaper of Andrews University. Opinions expressed in the Student Movement are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, Andrews University or the Seventh-day Adventist church.