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Click
here
for other contact numbers
Dispatch: 269-657-3101
Admin:
269-657-2006 Jail Information:
269-657-2171
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Submit
Silent Observer tips here
Submit CrimeStoppers tips
here
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Youth and Community |




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Neighborhood Watch Program Neighborhood Watch In
The News
Neighborhood Watch Benefits
5 Steps of Starting a Watch Program
Neighborhood Watch Contact Us
Citizen Police Academy
Fingerprinting & Photo
McGruff - Crime Dog
STOPPED
Program
STOPPED
Enrollment Form Truant
Officer TRIAD
Click on blue
underlined links for more information. |
TRIAD Quality of Life and Community Action
TRIAD is a national community
policing initiative wherein law enforcement professionals, senior citizens and
community groups collaborate to meet the crime-safety needs of the senior
community. Triad is an action group designed to empower, educate, and improve
communication with the senior community that focuses on crime, education,
prevention, criminal victimization, and safety.
Click
here to download a Triad Survey
form. The survey results will help your Triad and S.A.L.T. Council (Seniors
and Law Enforcement Together) to identify what types of criminal activity and
fears affect the senior citizens that we represent in Van Buren County.
Please return
the survey to Jennifer Carver, Senior
Services, 220 Broadway, South Haven MI 49090. To have a S.A.L.T.
volunteer pick up the survey, call 269-637-3607 or 1-866-627-8904. To
complete the survey over the phone, call 1-866-627-8904 and ask for Georgia or
Lucille.
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Neighborhood Watch

For over
thirty years, law enforcers and their civilian partners have been working
together to reduce crime and improve the quality of life in neighborhoods around
the country. Today, with continued emphasis on crime reduction and the added
task of fighting the war on terrorism, Neighborhood Watch is more important than
ever. Throughout the country citizens are being empowered and mobilized as they
participate in proactive partnerships with their local law enforcement agencies.
Traditionally, a Neighborhood Watch group is led by a community member who is
actively involved and dedicated to the program. Often, these group leaders are
selected because of their previous crime prevention experience and training or
because of their interest in the program. Some Neighborhood Watch leaders are
chosen because of their desire to reach out to and work with the community,
while others were selected because of their communication skills or abilities to
plan, organize and mobilize others.
The Van Buren
County Sheriff’s Office provides information, literature, training, and a host
of other important assets to form or revitalize a Neighborhood Watch group.
Whether you are a State award winning group, such as we have in Columbia
Township, or a few people meeting for the first time to discuss problems in your
neighborhood, the Sheriff’s Office would like to help. Sheriff Dale Gribler has
said that “They (Neighborhood Watch) have really been instrumental in helping
us, my hat is definitely off to them.”
Neighborhood Watch
in the News

Columbia Township Neighborhood Watch is the largest and
most successful neighborhood watch organization in Van Buren County. Its
success has sparked other communities to start their own.
What are some of the benefits of starting a watch
group?
5 Steps to starting a Neighborhood Watch
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Recruit and
organize as many neighbors as possible
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Contact the
Van Buren County Sheriff’s Office and schedule a meeting
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Discuss
community concerns and develop an action plan
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Hold
regular meetings and train
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Implement a
phone tree and take action steps.
Neighborhood Watch is
Homeland Security in your hometown!
Meet
the Challenge . . . Get Involved!
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Contact for Neighborhood Watch with Van Buren County
Sheriff
Reserve Captain Rodney
Bridgeforth at 269-655-6518
or
email.
Bring
to your next community function!

"The Crime Dog" is available for any
community or public relations events.
Reserve Captain Rodney Bridgeforth at 269-655-6518
or
email
... and take a BITE out of crime!
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Van Buren County
Citizen Police
Academy
Winter 2012
Classes held in the Lower Level of the Sheriff's Office in Paw Paw MI
The Van Buren County Sheriff’s Office is pleased to announce the Citizens Police
Academy dates for 2012. The academy is for citizens of Van Buren County to
become more familiar with law enforcement actives. The class will begin on
Wednesday, January 25, 2012 and runs for ten weeks. If you are interested in attending the class, please complete and
submit the application below. There is no cost for the class.
Click
here to
download a Citizen Police Academy class enrollment form.
Click here to download a
printable class schedule.
Citizen Police Academy Class
Schedule
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Week 1
Jan 25
Wednesday |
Introduction-Central Dispatch
and Patrol
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911 Dispatch:
6:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m., Supervisor Jeri Tapper
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Corrections: 7:00 p.m. - 8:00
p.m., Lieutenant Charity Cummins
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Patrol Techniques: 8:00 p.m. - 9:00
p.m., Sergeant Dave Walker
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Week 2
Feb 1
Wednesday
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Patrol Procedures
- Police K-9 Unit: 6:00 p.m. - 7:00
p.m., Sergeant Scott Schmitt
- Traffic Patrol/Drunk Driving Enforcement:
7:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.,
Sgt David Walker
- Vehicle Crash Investigation: 8:00
p.m. - 9:00 p.m., Deputy Brian Matthews.
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Week 3
Feb 8
Wednesday
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Use of Force & Officer Safety
- 6:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.,
Deputy Jim Charon, Deputy Matt Konkle
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Week 4
Feb 15
Wednesday
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Investigations
- Child & Family Abuse (Elder Abuse): 6:00 p.m. -
8:00 p.m.,
Detective Sharon VanDam
- Narcotic Investigations: 8:00 p.m. -
9:00 p.m., Detective Sergeant Jim Dietz.
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Week 5
Feb 22
Wednesday
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Crime Scene-Criminal
Investigations
- 6:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m., Detective Detective Sergeant Tom Macyauski
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Week 6
Feb 29
Wednesday
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Legal Issues
- Criminal Justice System: 6:00 p.m. -
7:00 p.m., Prosecutor Corey Johnson
- Parole-Probation: 7:00 p.m. - 8:00
p.m., Parole Agent Ann Marie Schaefer.
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Week 7
Mar 7
Wednesday
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The Community & Law
Enforcement, Volunteers in Policing
- Reserve Division: 6:00 p.m. - 6:30
p.m., Reserve Captain Rodney Bridgeforth
- Neighborhood Watch: 6:30 p.m. - 7:00
p.m., Reserve Captain Rodney Bridgeforth
- Mounted Division: 7:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m..,
Mounted Division Captain Raven Reed
- Victim Services Unit (VSU): 7:30 p.m. -
8:00 p.m., Sue Dudycha
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Week 8
Mar 14
Wednesday
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Special Topics
- Federal Law Enforcement: 6:00-7:00 p.m.,
Special Agent Tony Auberman, FBI
- Office of Community Corrections:
7:00pm-8:00pm, Sergeant Virg Franks
- Office of Domestic Preparedness: 8:00
p.m.-9:00 p.m., Lieutenant Al Svilpe.
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Week 9
Mar 21
Wednesday
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Special Units
- Emergency Response Unit (ESU): 6:00 p.m.-7:00
p.m.,
Detective Sergeant Jim Dietz
- Marine Patrol: 7:00 p.m. - 8:00
p.m., Marine Sergeant Chad Jahr
- Dive Team-Underwater Recovery Unit - 8:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m., Deputy Dan Perkins.
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Week 10
Mar 28
Wednesday
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Ceremonial
- Honor Guard Unit: 6:00 p.m. - 7:00
p.m., Deputy Mark Sticlkes, Deputy Kyle Romeo, Deputy Brian Matthews.
- Police Citizen's Academy Graduation,
Presentation of Certificates:
Undersheriff Gabrielle Rought, Reserve Captain Rodney Bridgeforth
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Citizen Police Academy
Contact Us:
Reserve Captain
Rodney Bridgeforth at 269-655-6518
or
email. |
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Sheriff Dale
R. Gribler is pleased to introduce the
STOPPED
(Sheriffs Telling
Our Parents
and Promoting Educated
Drivers) program in Van Buren County.
A parental notification system that was developed for
the state by the Michigan Sheriffs’ Association (MSA), the goal of
STOPPED is to
reduce the number of young drivers who are injured or killed in motor vehicle
crashes each year.
Annually over 3,000 drivers, ages 16 to 21 years old,
die in the United States as a result of motor vehicle crashes.
In Van Buren County young drivers represent 27% of all
drivers involved in car crashes; however, they are only 13% of our county’s
population.
The Van Buren County Sheriffs Office is pleased to
offer parents this voluntary notification system that extends their watchful
eyes and raises the level of awareness for drivers under the age of 21.
On
Your
Mark
Parents voluntarily
register with the Van Buren County Sheriffs office any motor vehicle that will
be operated by a driver under the age of 21.
Get Set...
An identification decal is issued by the Sheriffs office and should be affixed
to the front windshield of each registered vehicle.
STOPPED!
If for any reason, the registered vehicle is stopped by Sheriffs deputies while
a person under the age of 21 is driving, the officer will complete a
notification card that provides the following information:
• Time and location of stop
• Driver’s name and the number of passengers in vehicle
• Reason for the stop
• Whether any citations were issued
The notification will then be mailed directly to
the parents in order to make them aware of potential problems as well as enable
them to enforce parental rules that often co-exist with teenage driving
privileges.
A Driver's
License Is One Of The Most Visible Symbols Of A Child's Progression Into
Adulthood.
To a teenager, it means freedom, but to their
parents it often means higher auto insurance rates, dented fenders, and speeding
tickets. Tragically, for the parents of 434 young adults in Michigan in 2003, it
meant burying a son or daughter.
Young adults are at a dangerous intersection where inexperience, risk-taking
behavior, and increased risk of exposure collide. Although young adults
represent less than 15% of all licensed drivers in Michigan, they are involved
in almost 25% of all crashes.
As any parent of a teenager will tell you, young adults perceive and react to
risks differently than older adults. At times, this is exhibited as a failure to
understand danger or act appropriately. On the road, these youthful traits can
turn deadly very quickly.
Just as your arms protected your child as he took his first baby steps, the
STOPPED program arms you as he learns to drive.
Habits are difficult to change once set. Protect your loved one and the
community by joining STOPPED today!
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STOPPED
Enrollment
Click
here
for enrollment registration form.
For more information call: (800) 875-5500.
Sheriff Dale R. Gribler email
Van Buren County Sheriff
Reserve Captain Rodney Bridgeforth
email |

Your teenager may borrow the keys to the family car, but you hold the keys to
their future. Please join the
STOPPED
program and let the Sheriff's Office become your partner in promoting young
driver safety. |
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STOPPED
Program Sponsors |
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Michigan Office of
Highway Safety Planning |

Michigan
Sheriffs’ Association |
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Truant Officer
Deputy Russ Reynnells is the Department’s assigned truant officer. The
Truant Officer position is a working partnership with the Van Buren
Intermediate School District and the office is located at the Conference
Center of the VBISD in Lawrence.
Deputy Reynnells works
with all the school systems within the VBISD District: Bangor, Bloomingdale,
Covert, Decatur, Gobles, Hartford, Lawrence, Lawton, Mattawan, Paw Paw, and
South Haven schools.
Deputy Reynnells works
closely with the schools officials, students, parents, Prosecutors Office, Child
Protective Services, and the local police agencies to ensure that the guidelines
of truancy are followed. Deputy Reynnells also attends various meetings with the
schools and is pro-active on helping and encouraging students to attend school.
Deputy Reynnells can be
contacted through the ISD at 269-674-8091 or
click here to send an email..
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