Group hears from MCC police

Tammy Parillo, MCC police public safety department emergency responder coordinator, was the featured speaker at the East Side Business Association meeting May 18. Parillo, a retired Genesee County Sheriff's Department officer, explained Mott police have full arrest authority and work in tandem with the Flint Police Department.

"Our department is modeled after the Flint's department, but our primary focus is the campus," Parillo said.

She explained officers also patrol the surrounding campus residential area in a 1.5-mile radius that includes Flint Cultural Center and Kearsley Park.

"Mott police are highly trained," Parillo said.

Many officers are retired Flint or Genesee County Sheriff's Department officers.

The staff includes nine sergeants and 10 officers who use police vehicles with red and blue lights and have authority to pull over a vehicle in any location in the county. The department also has 10 unarmed public safety officers and a crew of student officers who observe and report criminal activity.

Parillo introduced Sgt. Lloyd Nicholson who recently completed an advanced community policing program.

"He is one of two police officers in Michigan who are certified in community policing," Parillo said.

His job, according to Parillo, is to do target hardening — making people less vulnerable to crime — by educating and assisting people, neighborhood associations and crime watch groups.

Nicholson distributed a home security checklist asking members to take it home and work on it — then call his department for a home or business inspection.

Asked what kinds of crime police encounter on campus, Officer Eric Young said, "It's a mix — drugs and theft including stolen backpacks. Books are also valuable," he said

"All in all the campus is probably the safest place in the city," he said.

Parillo said her department records crime statistics and publishes them in accordance with the Clery Act. It requires timely notification of the campus community of certain crimes or incidents that are reported to campus security authorities or local police and considered by MCC to represent a serious or continuing threat to students and employees.