Life On The Line

With the recent protest against police, are police departments in Northern Michigan feeling the growing scrutiny?

Part One

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Part Two

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Special Report

Protests against police. It seems like we're seeing more and more of them in the wake of recent officer-involved shootings across the U.S.

But is this growing scrutiny being felt by police departments in Northern Michigan?

Evan Dean rode along with the Cadillac PD to find out.

For police officer Jeffrey Rork, every day on the job is completely different.

"You always have to be prepared for everything," said Rork.

Whether it's making a traffic stop... "The reason I'm stopping you is I just got you going a little bit quick downtown here."

Responding to a domestic dispute... "She's talking to him through the door. She's not letting him in, she won't talk to him. She won't come out."

Or spending time in the local schools -- it's the "unknown" that makes his job so challenging.

"The scariest things as a police officer is the unknown. Stuff that I can't control."

And in law enforcement, that means officers risking their lives and sometimes even giving their life while carrying out their job.

"I've been in those exact same circumstances a hundred times, and I'm just lucky it wasn't me. It could've been me. Very easily."

But it's not the danger that draws people to law enforcement, it's the opportunity to protect and serve.

That's why Lieutenant Todd Golnick joined the force more than 30 years ago.

"It's nothing more than to help some people," said Golnick. "You have this certain innate calling to it, and I definitely feel that I was called to it."

But today, fewer people are answering that call. Local police academies are struggling to fill to capacity, and a job that's been admired for so long is now seemingly under more scrutiny than ever.

"There's no question that media events, especially on a national basis, strongly effect the public's opinion of us. It can go positive very quickly, like the events of 9/11, and it can go negative, if we go back to the Rodney King incidents."

And right now -- police work is under the microscope. The recent officer-involved shootings in Ferguson and New York City are raising questions about police ethics and procedures.

"What we're finding that in a lot of those situations is that all the information isn't being shared. A lot of people are gonna ignore the facts that are in conflict of their decisions."

And even though these shootings happened hundreds of miles away -- they're impacting what some people think about police here in Northern Michigan.

"There's also a population of people out there, who are using things like recent national events to confirm their predisposed beliefs that the police are either involved in misconduct or cover-ups or things like that," said Golnick.

Rork says, "people are very hard on police, because they think we're overpowering."

But Golnick says that's just not the case -- at least not in his department.

"We arrest over a thousand people each year most every year," Golnick explains. "Of those, we have less than 1 percent, about 1/10 percent of the time are we using force."

"I'll go through a shift with 10 complaints, 10 contacts with very, very irate people. And it'll end with a handshake," Rork says. "Those aren't the ones that get put out there by the public because it's not fun, it's not fun to hear about stuff like that. But -- it's good. It's a good thing."

And although Officer Rork knows not everyone wants to meet the man behind the badge, he says make no mistake -- there are a lot of people in Cadillac who do support what he does.

"I don't wanna give off any kind of portrayal that this isn't a thankless job. Yeah there are the bad apples that don't appreciate what we do, but there's an equal number of people that are very appreciative."

And in the midst of all the criticism he says it's those people who make the job all worth it.

"The most rewarding part of it -- it's not taking the bad guys to jail, necessarily, it's seeing the smile on someone's face when you know you've helped them. Because I've been in that position before, where I've needed help. Just hearing that siren off in the distance and knowing that help is on the way made me feel so good that help is here. And if I can give that feeling to somebody else, I know that I've done good."

And, in the wake of recent officer-involved shootings, more departments are using body cameras.

The small town of White Cloud is a long way from Ferguson, Missouri or New York City. But for the local police department, it doesn't matter that last year's officer-involved shootings happened hundreds of miles away.

"Just as of probably the last six months or so, I've noticed the attitude of some people we deal with change," said White Cloud Police Officer Dan Evans. "They seem to more aggressive, they seem to be more ready to challenge law enforcement -- especially with recent news media coverage of some of the events. I think that it's changed."

You get the sense that, fair or not, police departments are under a microscope right now. And as the public outcry for accountability grows louder -- new technology is starting emerge.

"The cameras record almost exactly what we see and hear."

They're called body cameras. President Obama recently proposed $250 million in federal spending to equip more officers with these devices. But officers in White Cloud have had them for five years.

"I think some of the sentiment from the public now is that if it's not on TV, it didn't happened, if it wasn't recorded, it didn't happen. It's been huge for numerous cases where those people need to see it and hear it for their own eyes to believe it. Right there it is."

Here's a look at the body camera, you can see it's only about the size of a cellphone, but take a look -- officers say the picture is clear, and that they're very user friendly.

"Right now it's in standby mode. When I go investigate a complaint, or I'm on a traffic stop, or some other significant event, pretty easy, really simple for the officer to use -- press it twice, it's now recording. And then real simple to turn it off. The large button here in the middle -- after about three seconds it just shuts off."

So whether it's a traffic stop or an officer responding to a domestic dispute, the camera goes where the officer goes.

"It's helped in prosecution. I've been in jury trials where it's helped the jury's actually see and hear what the officer has seen and heard."

In Cadillac, the local police department has been researching body cameras for the past six months. They plan to test out one out see how it works.

"The goal is to have a better conviction rate and court display for our drunk and drugged driver enforcement," said Golnick.

Lieutenant Todd Golnick says they could be very useful, but he wants to warn the public of the unintended consequences.

"Remind you, in America, we place a heavy emphasis on personal privacy. Your home is your castle. If we get called to homes, we are now going into your home and videoing inside your home. We're making a public record. And if you have some embarrassing facts in your life, right out there in your home, they're gonna get caught, and they could potentially be publicly displayed."

What about the price tag? Officer Evans says they're much cheaper than in-car cameras, but could cost more to maintain.

"These are $400 a piece, in-car cameras are $2,000 a piece," said Evans. "However what the public does have to remember is with body cameras it's gonna create more work for the officers, more work for the administrative staff more cost to the department to operate as opposed to not."

While body cameras bring with them a learning curve for both police and the public -- don't be surprised to see officers in your town wearing these sometime soon.

The departments we spoke with say the positives outweigh the negatives.

"I have no problem with us being held accountable," said Golnick. "Not at all. I think the public's gonna be quite impressed how our officers handle themselves in some of these really tense, dynamic situations."

Evans says, "I think that they're gonna see the conviction rates go up and I think some of the people that are concerned about police ethics, tactics, things of that nature I think that they may back off a little bit when they see those conviction rates go up because it's gonna be on TV in court."