The Grand Rapids police chief laid out a new strategic plan to city commissioners today [Tues].
Chief Eric Payne says he wants his officers out of their patrol cars more. He wants to do away with the patrol model entirely, and make all officers community officers, assigned to a specific neighborhood.
And he wants to hire mental health professionals to handle calls that don’t require an officer response.
“And this is a plan I just believe will work in Grand Rapids and will make us more effective with what we’re doing," said Payne. "And my hopes are that other departments will come here and look at what we’re doing here.”
Commissioners reacted positively to the plan at Tuesday’s meeting. Once the plan is finalized, then the city manager says they can talk about the department’s budget.