By James Windell
When Kevin Swope was 15, he became a Police Explorer.
“This was a program like Boy Scouts,” Swope, the South Haven Police Chief, said in a recent interview. “That was in Garden City and after that I kept going. I never wanted to do anything else.”
Becoming a Police Explorer wasn’t the motivation to become a police officer. The motivation came from his older brother. “He’s about 10 years older than me and he was a police officer. He was a role model for me, so I always wanted to do what he was doing.”
By the time he was 19, Swope was a patrol officer for the Detroit Police Department. However, that experience was an eye-opener for him.
“I really enjoyed being a patrol officer in Detroit,” he says, “but coming from a place like Garden City which was not diverse at all, and working in Detroit it was my first experience of being in a diverse community. I realized I had not seen anything before. At 19, that really helped to mature me.”
Swope was born in Farmington Hills, Michigan, but grew up in Garden City. After high school, he attended Schoolcraft College before moving to Albuquerque, New Mexico to play hockey for a couple of years. It was when he moved back home that he joined the Detroit Police Department.
During his six years as a Detroit police officer, his aim was to be an investigator. “I wanted to work in Major Crimes,” he recalls. “I did work in Special Operations, where we worked on major felony cases.”
But it was when he joined the Westland Police Department that he realized that he wanted to do more with his career. “It was at that point that my brother was a police lieutenant and since I always followed his lead, I looked for promotions.”
In Westland, he became a Sergeant and was promoted to Deputy Chief before retiring and moving on to the Dearborn Heights Police Department. “It was then that I discovered I really liked being an administrator and managing,” he says.
In the meantime, as he was moving up the chain of command, he obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice Administration from Columbia Southern University. Then, he completed the Police Executive School of Staff and Command at Eastern Michigan University, the Police Executives and New Chiefs’ School from the Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police, and the FBI Law Enforcement Leadership Program’s Executive Leadership Institute.
When the police chief in Dearborn Heights retired, Swope had his first opportunity to lead a department. “I was Director of Operations in Dearborn Heights, which is equivalent to a Deputy Chief in other police departments,” he explains. “Then I became chief this past July when the former chief retired. I got a lot of experience in Dearborn Heights because it is a very politically charged city. It’s a great city with great people, but it was very political. However, I tried to stay neutral.”
When he saw the opening for a police chief in South Haven, he applied.
“South Haven’s job was very intriguing,” he says. “I did research on the job opportunity and I could see that the city of South Haven was well put together. It had great people with a diverse community.”
As he was introduced to South Haven, he was even more impressed. “The city is welcoming to everybody. I think that is important. If you’re going to be a police chief somewhere, it should be in a community that welcomes everyone. Because of that, you will avoid lots of problems from the get-go.”
Natalie Thompson, former South Haven Police Chief, retired on September 30, 2024, after a 31-year career with the SHPD. Since her retirement, Sergeant Pat Carlotto filled in as the interim police chief. Kevin Swope was hired and began his tenure as chief on January 6, 2025.
Swope is married to Michelle and they have five children, ranging in age from 11 to 25. He says he is proud that his two oldest sons are in law enforcement. “One is a police officer and one works in corrections,” Swope says. “I’m very proud that they chose to follow in my footsteps and also in my brother’s footsteps.”
Getting to know the city, he says he is also impressed with the services and resources in South Haven. “Coming from three different jurisdictions, I could see that South Haven is top notch when it comes to services. I’m glad I’m part of it now because I’ve never experienced a city that works like this one.”
He recognizes that every city has its differences and conflicts. “People here may have different views about situations, but everyone is professional about it. And this allows for problems to be solved. I really like that.”
He says he is not really a political person. “I want to be everyone’s police chief,” he comments. “It doesn’t matter what side of a situation you’re on, I’m your police chief. My job is to protect people, to provide safety, and also to protect people’s Constitutional rights.”
Swope comes to the job with goals. “I want to build on the successes that the previous chief has had, especially with community relations.”
However, he also sees that certain policies and procedures need to be updated. “I’d like to bring policies up to date and create new ones that help our police department to use the most modern policies and practices in policing.”
Among other goals, he also wants to gain accreditation for the police department. “I have experience in managing accreditation programs,” he says, “and I think when a department is accredited that officers are trained better and they get better at de-escalating situations while improving in terms of community engagement. I want us to do a great job when it comes to mental health and calls for service.”
And he is also concerned about domestic violence. “I know we want to reduce that,” he says. “We want to have an impact on domestic violence. We can’t necessarily stop what goes on in people’s homes, but we can provide resources for people to get help.”
Describing himself as a very tolerant person who is focused on policies and procedures, he also states that he hates crime. “I know some law enforcement leaders are tolerant of crime, but I look at myself as a 360-type of law enforcement leader,” he says. “I take care of the community side of it, but I also take care of the enforcement side of it. People who think they can come to our city and create issues for our residents, we have a message to them: Stay out. We don’t want to have victims in our city.”
