Extra efforts win honors for police officers
Thursday, May 18, 2006, By Scott Hagen, shagen@citpat.com -- 768-4929
Michigan - One walked miles holding the leash of his K-9 dog, tracking suspects. The other spent hours enforcing traffic laws while also filling in as a detective and solving major crimes.
For their efforts, Jackson police Officer William Mills and Jackson County Sheriff's Deputy Christopher Kuhl earned honors from their departments Wednesday night as county and city police agencies lauded their own at an annual banquet.
Sheriff Dan Heyns called Kuhl the "epitome of a police officer. ! He really has police work in his heart. It's the same piece of DNA in both (Kuhl and Mills). They are cops to their core."
Kuhl took on a wide range of assignments in 2005, from six months in the detective bureau, where he closed out several cases, to traffic patrol, where he handed out tickets to motorists.
"I was very honored and humbled to get it," said Kuhl, 30, a nine-year department veteran. "I love all aspects of this job. ! I love to be in the middle of it."
Mills, 37, a 15-year veteran of the department, gave credit to his partner, the police dog Beggy, for the duo's efforts in tracking suspects and searching houses and cars for drugs on the late-night shift, and at whatever time they're needed.
On Sunday, Beggy tracked a man who allegedly threatened three supermarket employees with a knife. He found the suspect in the attic of an abandoned house on Francis Street.
That morning Beggy discovered 85 grams of powder cocaine hidden in a Burger King bag inside a car.
Police Chief Ervin Portis said Mills was "a treasure. He's a guy that all those young officers look to for guidance. People in the community know him."
Both departments awarded commendations and meritorious citations to other deputies, officers, state troopers, corrections officers, dispatchers and reserves. Nearly 50 awards were handed out.
"These awards affirm who we are, and what we expect from each other," Heyns said. "I think it sets the standard, but I think by repeating it every year it's building a culture of integrity."
Retrieved May 18, 2006 from http://www.mlive.com/news/jacitpat/index.ssf?/base/news-17/1147968450277890.xml&coll=3