Posted on July 13, 2017 at 9:22 AM by Bridget Kozlowski
By: Councilman Gary Lusk
So, as the newest City Council member, I thought I'd better catch up quickly on the "doings" in our great city.
City Manager Mark Vanderpool recommended starting with the Police Department. I was able to complete a ride-along with Officer Brian Krueger in traffic and quickly realized how careful and prepared our Sterling Heights Police have to be at every traffic stop. Officer Krueger works Dobry Drive quite a bit, as it has a record of several accidents, largely as a result of speeding. On our ride-along, I witnessed an accident near Van Dyke. Officer Krueger is also on the accident reconstruction team — a team that works to determine he cause of fatal accidents. I learned that each vehicle has a "black box" that captures vehicle speed, breaking, steering and air bag deployment prior to the accident. Overall, I was grateful for my time with Officer Krueger and his willingness to teach and explain police procedures.
Next, I headed to the Fire Department and an afternoon spent with Engine Company #5. These guys work as a team and I was amazed at how quickly they could shift from a homemade dinner prepared by one of their own fireman to hopping on the rig within 60 seconds to respond to a call. Just about all of our five stations teams are also paramedics, and with the additions of the new ambulances arriving to each station, we have incredible support from these talented people from the moment they arrive at the scene to the delivery of a patient at the hospital. We should feel lucky to have such well-trained, caring individuals working to save lives every day.
Overall, I was incredibly grateful for the opportunity to learn from both Police and Fire, and now have even greater respect for both departments. I hope to continue learning from each of our City Departments in the coming months. Stay tuned for more!