James Windell
For the second time this year, the City of South Haven has a new police chief.
Dennis Honholt, currently the Chief of Police and Director of Public Safety for the city of Dover, Tennessee, will become South Haven’s police chief on April 1, 2025.
The position of chief of the South Haven Police Department has been vacant since Kevin Swope resigned on February 25, 2025 – after less than two months on the job. Prior to Swope becoming chief on January 6, 2025, there had been no permanent chief following the retirement of Natalie Thompson, who had been chief since 2016. Since she retired, Sergeant Pat Carlotto had been filling in as the interim police chief. Following Swope’s resignation, Carlotto was again acting as interim police chief.
After Thompson left the position, the city was working with the Michigan Municipal League to select candidates and narrow the viable candidates down to a short list. As part of that process, more than 40 people participated in focus groups providing feedback about the candidates for police chief.
Honholt has 31 years of law enforcement experience and in his current position in Dover, Tennessee, he oversees staff at both the police and fire department. Prior to becoming Chief of Police in Dover, he was a detective with the Clarksville Police Department in Tennessee, Deputy Sheriff/Court Officer for the 60th District Court, Forensic Services Officer with the Walker Police Department and Investigator with the United States Investigative Service.
In a recent phone interview, Honholt said that he was born in Ottawa County, Michigan, and grew up in the Hudsonville area. His father was the chief of police in Hudsonville. Honholt started his career in policing with the Walker Police Department. “I started as a reserve officer, then I went to Ottawa when they had a police canine unit,” he said. “I worked in Dispatch and also doing crime scene investigations.”
He didn’t like the winters in Michigan and took a job with the Clarksville Police Department in Tennessee. “I was on the Drug Interdiction Team, then went on to investigations, but when the chief’s position opened up in Dover, I thought about that.”
He wasn’t sure that he wanted the job of chief of police “because although I liked the idea, I also liked what I was doing. Although I missed being out and about as much, it was also important to lead and share my experience to help the other guys to succeed in their careers.”
Honholt has an Associate Degree in Criminal Justice from Ashworth College, and is a graduate of Southeastern Leadership Academy, and the FBI Law Enforcement Development Association’s Trilogy Course. In addition, he has completed dozens of law enforcement courses throughout his law enforcement career.
In the press release sent out by South Haven announcing his hiring, City Manager Kate Hosier is quoted as saying that, “One thing that truly impressed the interview committee about Dennis Honholt was his passion for community service. He has been involved with several outreach programs such as ‘Cops and Bobbers,’ which is an event where officers would teach children how to fish.”
As a teenager Honholt spent time on the beach in South Haven and he has many pleasant summer memories of that time. However, he says he was attracted to the South Haven job because he and his wife Carolyn don’t get to see their oldest children and their grandchildren as often as they would like. “We’ve been talking for years that if the right thing opened up, I would put in for it. I had my heart set on something along Lake Michigan, but the South Haven position appealed to me for so many reasons. Mostly the thing I like is that South Haven is extremely diverse and is still a smaller community. I prefer a smaller community because you get to see results of your worker quicker.”
Honholt’s Facebook comments and the Dover Police Department’s website indicate that Honholt has a strong belief in community policing. Community-oriented policing is a policing strategy that relies heavily on community involvement and partnerships, and on police presence in the community in order to address local crime and disorder.
I do believe in community-oriented policing,” Honholt said. “I would credit my father for that. When he was chief, he was really big into that approach, so I was watching it before community policing was even a term. He believed in getting into schools early and getting community events together.”
Regarding his approach to policing, Honholt said that “My approach has always been that even though we have a job to do and we have to enforce the law, often the end result is that that is not always working. In years past, policing was about just putting people in jail and then letting them back out. But if we have someone with a problem, you have to find answers.”
He explained that he supports drug courts, rehabilitation programs, and finding alternatives to fix problems. “I want to change the image of what we do by being more involved with the community and by being human to the people we serve,” he said.
