Sheriff King updates Algonac City Council on services

Shares numbers for activities and calls in 2023

By Barb Pert Templeton

The City of Algonac has a contract with the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Department for police protection and is currently in the final nine months of a three-year contract. Deputies with the sheriff’s department provide services for all Algonac residents and enforce all state laws plus all criminal, civil, and traffic ordinances within the city. 

At a Jan. 16 regular meeting of the Algonac City Council Sheriff Mat King gave a brief presentation about services provided to the city over the last year. He regularly presents the city with a bi-annual in-person report and outlines some of the numbers related to calls and service.

King said a lot of the numbers for the end-of-year report were the same as they were last year.

A couple areas that stood out were in the assist other departments section, for 2023 there were 349 calls versus 295 calls in 2022. 

Another area with a significant number of differentials was the assist public with property checks and school walk-throughs areas, which had 2,973 in 2022 but 5,788 in 2023. 

“So those numbers went up substantially, nearly 2,000,” King said. 

Traffic stops and calls for service last year were 5,103, and this year logged 7,647, which includes the property checks and walk-throughs.

“It’s a great example of deputies continuing to keep themselves involved, even when they’re not getting calls,” King said. “There downtime is spent making sure the community is safe and having community engagement and interaction and that’s something that I’ve instilled in them and they are taking the ball and running with it.”

King noted the city does have two new deputies on the day shift and several more on the night shift. The sheriff then opened up the floor to answer any questions from the city council.

Councilwoman Dawn Davey asked King to elaborate a bit on what exactly the ‘assist public and property checks” were and what fell under that category, especially since the numbers grew considerably from last year. 

The sheriff said the deputies could be doing anything from checking on businesses whether they are open or not and, if open, chatting with the business owners. Also, check doors at night to make sure they are closed up tight while the establishment is closed. 

Deputies also do school checks and walk through vacant properties. For example, the city just purchased the old Algonac Elementary School, so that would be checked out randomly as well. 

“Again, the school walk throughs are important,” King said. 

The category noted as ‘assisting the public’ could be any number of things. An example King offered was assisting a broken-down car along the road, and it could be written down as a traffic stop or assist to the public. 

Councilman Michael Bembas said he was pleased to see the numbers related to traffic stops versus the number of tickets issued. 

“I like the fact of 805 traffic stops but not 805 tickets just 266, so we’re giving a lot of warnings and so we’re not just out there to punish people but more to warn them and get them in the right, and I do appreciate that,” Bembas said.

“Yes, for traffic stops there’s a myriad of reasons but the main reasons are traffic violations and further investigation,” King said. “So, most of the time traffic violations stops are for education but sometimes the only education that seems to work is a ticket and sometimes conversation goes a long way.”

King said his officers do a great job deciding when a ticket is appropriate and he knows that simply because he doesn’t get a lot of calls from people complaining that they got one. It likely means the ones who did know they deserved the tickets. 

“I think you guys have always done an excellent job,” Bembas said.

Councilman Corey Blair also thanked King for the sheriff department service to the city, calling it “always top notch.”

“We appreciate the partnership and we always communicate, there’s always stuff going on and I always get calls from everyone on the board and the city manager and I appreciate the conversations and even sometimes the fun that we have,” King said.

During council comments near the conclusion of the meeting, Councilman Ed Carter offered his thanks to King and his officers, stating he appreciates what they do in the community.

“I’ve had the opportunity to see several deputies in action, even with some of the crazies that have walked up, and they were very courteous and kind,” Carter said. 

Mayor Rocky Gillis and Mayor Pro Tem Ray Martin also offered thanks to the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Office during the council comments portion of the meeting.

The current agreement for law enforcement services between the City of Algonac and the St. Clair County Sheriff was approved on July 6, 2021, renewing a contract for a three-year period, commencing on Oct. 1, 2021, and ending on Sept. 30, 2024. 

Councilwoman Cathy Harris was absent from the Jan. 16, 2024, city council meeting.