GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Grand Rapids Police Chief Eric Winstrom hit his one-year mark as the city's top cop on Tuesday.
"I feel very proud to be the chief here, but I'm very fortunate with the officers and dispatchers and the civilian personnel that works here," Chief Winstrom said.
Chief Winstrom invited FOX 17 into his office Tuesday to sit down with him one-on-one to talk about his most significant accomplishments and challenges over the last 365 days.
"I think probably the biggest just single accomplishment is guiding the department through the difficult time after the Patrick Lyoya shooting. And that was not just Eric Winstrom doing it. That was a whole team effort. I was brand new when that happened and I relied on the command staff, which, a lot of experience there," Winstrom explained.
Outside of the station, you can see a transition in the front. Fences and barricades stood in front of the Grand Rapids Police Department's downtown headquarters for several months after Lyoya's death during a traffic stop back in April.
"I knew it looked ugly. This looks much nicer. But at least for that time, it got the job done, where we facilitated protests of literally hundreds, if not thousands, of people right out here in Monroe Center. And there was a lot of passion. And there was, you know, a lot of yelling and screaming, but there wasn't that face-to-face where they're yelling right in the face of a police officer or pushing the police officers back and forth," Winstrom added.
Not long after peaceful protests, new policies and procedures, where Lyoya's death had a hand in the roadmap for the future of policing within the department.
"We brought in de-escalation training, self-regulation, training, constitution, police and training. We're switching to a model of the use of force training involving Brazilian jujitsu. So it's less strikes, more holds and control tactics," Winstrom told FOX 17.
We also asked about his goals as he enters his second year.
"Our biggest challenge is to get our 30 vacancies filled...I think I've seen the pendulum swing to the point where I think we're very optimistic that we're going to make really good strides in recruiting this year and really start filling those vacancies (apply here) so that we'll be able to focus not only just on answering 911 calls, investigating crime, but really working on building that trust with the community," he added.
If you're ever inside GRPD's lobby, there's a recruitment effort behind the front desk. The men and women in the lightly colored blue shirts are interns.
"If you can handle it at the front here, because I can hear sometimes up in my office, because we share a lobby. I hear people screaming down here, crying down here, whatever. And so these interns are dealing with that. And you know, if you have a full day of that, and if you can tolerate it and go home and think I've made a really positive difference today in somebody's life under really stressful circumstances," Winstrom said.
The chief says a big challenge he would like to accomplish is to have more patrolling officers.
"So we're gonna be using the DICE (Data Informed Community Engagement) program, for example, to make sure that our officers are down in the areas where they should be, and not as some occupying army, not over policing, we're going to be doing it in conjunction with a community and letting the community know, hey, this is where we're seeing the the issues of increased amounts of violence, and we're going to work with you," he added.
At a recent public safety meeting inside the city chambers room, Winstrom shared some numbers with committee members. City data he showed included the number of homicides, which is below the previous three-year-to-date average of 24. In 2022, the city saw 23 people killed.
At the same meeting, the department shared the number of burglary/breaking and entering of 518 in 2022, which is below the previous three-year-to-date average 698.
Another data point was the number of illegal guns seized by officers. In 2021, officers took 575 guns off the streets, and in 2022, there were 527. Winstrom shared a recent case with a 13-year-old who had an illegal weapon.
"So the fact that we took about 30 off the streets from juveniles, without any injuries, to either the officers or the juveniles is good. We need to get that message out there that it is time for the youth and Grand Rapids to just embrace conflict resolution, you know, put the guns down," he added.
Crime among youth is a growing issue, with FOX 17 covering several Hyundai and KIA thefts in the Grand Rapids area and around West Michigan.
Recent city data shows the number of motor vehicle theftsoverall is up from 908 in 2021, to more than 1,400 this past year— numbers Winstrom hopes to cut down on in 2023.
"We did a great job identifying offenders, making arrests and then turning it over to the juvenile justice system to say, you know, who else is going to help here? What are you going to what sort of program to you know, do for these kids that are offending to make sure that they don't reoffend," he said.
The chief says they have ongoing sports programs in the summer, and he plans to have a more active role with the Boys and Girls Club. Winstrom adds it's going to take an active role from the community when it comes to the wellbeing of the city's youth.
"We need more adults in the city to really step up, take an interest in the welfare of our youth to make sure that all the kids in Grand Rapids have the ability to grow up, go home safe at night and not be victimized by either gun violence or the threat of gun violence, the fear that creates."
His message to people who live, work and visit GR as he moves forward into his tenure here: "We want to get to the point where no matter what part of the city you live in, you're safe from gun violence. You're safe from property theft...you can safely park your vehicle without getting stolen. And we want people to have that feeling that where they live is safe, no matter where you are in the city, when everybody feels that way," Winstrom told FOX 17.
The chief also says he wants to increase the number of social workers paired up with officers. The pilot program shows licensed social workers can access medical information that officers don't.
Watch FOX 17's full interview with Chief Winstrom:
