Interim Public Safety Chief Aaron Phipps on keeping ADPS moving forward

Sylvia Benavidez

Interim Albion Public Safety Chief Aaron Phipps had the honor of seeing one of his new public safety officers graduate from Kellogg Community College on Dec. 15. With Lt. Bill Timmins at his side, Phipps was happy to see Robert Haas, Albion, return to serve the city in law enforcement.

Phipps’s face is familiar on the streets of Albion as a road officer, lieutenant, and even as a child, but his role of interim chief is new since former ADPS Chief Scott Kipp retired Nov. 15.

In a series of conversations between November and December, Phipps explained his hopes for the department as Albion’s City Council hires a new city manager.

When asked if he wants the job, he said he feels it is too early to answer for a couple of reasons. A new city manager will be part of the decision-making process, and Phipps has just started the job. “I think doing this in the interim and feeling it out and seeing what it is like, and after some time, I could probably answer that,” he said.

Watching Kipp he learned a lot about what keeps day-to-day operations moving forward. Kipp left a nearly full staff behind with only two open positions and Haas in the academy, so one of his major goals will be staffing. He is also grateful for the new fire truck delivered earlier in the year and the previously purchased police vehicle replacements. “Recently, we bought three new trucks and two Chargers. When officers work in a vehicle that works all the time for them, is newer and doesn’t have mechanical issues or technical issues, they can do their job better and faster,” said Phipps.

Phipps emphasized that maintaining a healthy team requires two-way communication. “The shelf life of a chief can be anywhere from one to five years and then they retire or move on. So, seeing Chief Kipp in his position for over 11 years, there’s a lot to say about that in his work ethic, his relationship with the community, and his relationship with all of us here…. in reality, it does come down to communication.”

What Phipps learned from his background and watching Kipp is that action must be behind good communication. “When Kipp said he had an open-door policy, come talk to him about anything, he did have an open door. Yes, there is a chain of command in certain circumstances or situations but if we’re encountering a problem at work that we are seeing often and that we think needs to be addressed whether a PSO or sergeant, Kipp was all ears, and you could talk to him all day. But I think the size of our department and our town and just communicating the way that we do benefits us greatly on being successful here.”

Phipps wants to maintain that constant communication. “We have to constantly keep up with each other so whether it’s Lt. Timmins or Detective Lieutenant Wygant, Deputy Chief Kern, my hope is that we can meet every Monday or just briefly to see what is on the schedule for this week, what are our priorities, what is coming up, just constantly have that feedback and communication with each other. It helps organize everything and keep everything on task and keeps us ahead of anything coming up,” said Phipps.

His desire for open communication and a career in service comes from his family background and previous careers. His dad, Kent Phipps gave many years of service to the City of Albion. “My dad was a firefighter here in 1975 before they went to public safety.” His mother, Cristina Phipps was a social worker in Calhoun County for over 30 years.

“Between the two of them, this field has always been innate. It just naturally pulled me to it. So, I really didn’t want to do anything else growing up,” shared Phipps.

The route to becoming a public safety officer wasn’t as quick for him as others, but it prepared him to become a better officer and for the leadership role he now has at ADPS. While at Albion High School, I was duo enrolled and took criminal justice in my senior year at KCC. Then got my bachelor’s from Ferris.”

His father fell seriously ill with brain cancer, which delayed his goal of becoming a police officer. He was able to build his resume while studying law enforcement at Kellogg Community College.

“While I was going to KCC, I started working at Albion College Campus Safety in 2002. My first night was actually Halloween,” said Phipps. He said working security at Albion College was a great place to become familiar with this type of career. He worked there three or five different times throughout the years and credits Ken Snyder, director of Albion College Campus Safety at that time, with educating and encouraging him to continue in that line of work.

While at Ferris, he worked weekends at Albion College. After graduating from Ferris, he worked for two years at the Calhoun County Juvenile home. He later worked as full-time nighttime supervisor at Albion College for about three years. Then, in 2012, he became a dispatcher for the Federal Protective Service at the Federal Center in Battle Creek, an agency within Homeland Security. They provide police and security services for federally owned and leased buildings in the country. He dispatched for Detroit, Indianapolis, and Chicago. “I was there for four years.” He was hired at ADPS in 2016 as a public safety officer.”

Letting out a slight chuckle while he explained all the jobs that came first before coming to ADPS, he shared what his wife said to him when the opportunity arose in Albion. She joked, “you aren’t getting any younger!” He went to the first available academy, which ended up being in the northern part of Michigan, to go through the recertifying procedure to become a police officer.

Phipps said he wanted to become a police officer because of the defund the police era. He shared what he was thinking at that time, “I can either help solve this problem or continue to be on the sideline.”

Phipps loves working with the ADPS team and wants to do everything he can to retain them. “I want to keep everyone here that is here because we have a really good group.”

He remembers what being short on staffing is like and how it can bring morale and performance down due to overwork and stress. He saw how hard it was for Kipp to recruit officers because of the competition of bigger cities like Battle Creek, Kalamazoo, and Jackson but he feels Albion has advantages too, and wants to emphasize those while he oversees the department.

“We really need to focus on what has gotten people here to apply, which is that we have a pension, which last I knew was the most funded in the State of Michigan. Our insurance is great. We have great coverage, and our community size is small.”

He believes in the city he grew up in, and he wants Albion to thrive. He is a product of the city and he learned to be patient with people and loves the diverse backgrounds in Albion.

“Whatever fears that they have with the police, if they do at all, they know me enough that they can trust that I will hear them out as much as I can and be fair with them,” he said.Courtesy photoCut 5452 Albion Department Public Safety Officer Lt. Bill Timmins, newly graduated from the academy Public Safety Officer Robert Haas, and Interim Albion Department of Public Safety Chief Aaron Phipps at Kellogg Community College on Monday, Dec. 16.