Kent County Traffic Squad

The Traffic Squad was originally organized in 1917, as a unit to support The Grand Rapids Police Department to provide manpower in an effort to replace the officers who had gone off to fight in World War I.

 In the mid 1920’s, The Squad became affiliated with the Safety Council of Grand Rapids and its members were commissioned as Special Traffic Squad Officers, on duty 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.  Members were empowered to stop and issue traffic citations to any observed offender and order them in to the appropriate jurisdiction.

During World War II, The Squad once again provided manpower to assist the Grand Rapids Police Department with its depleted force.  In the 1950’s, the authority to stop and cite observed offenders was ended.  However, commissioned Traffic Squad Officers could still report observed offences along with pertinent information to the appropriate traffic bureau and a violation/ticket would be sent to the offender via the US Mail.

First known photo of a Traffic Squad Officer taken in 1921

The Enforcement Unit continues to assist the Sheriff’s Department as well as all county law enforcement agencies.  As requests for service have expanded, so have the number of officers in the unit.  Over the past 6 years, the annual requests for assistance with special events have grown from 8 to over 50 in 2009.  As result the number of officers in the unit has been expanded from 25 to 55.

In 2005, The Traffic Squad established the IT Forensics Analysis Unit.  This was in response to the rapidly expanding needs of the department’s Investigations Division in the area of computer/cyber related crimes.  Aware that The Squad had members in the Enforcement Unit who also had extensive IT Forensics skills in the private sector, Sheriff Stelma requested the creation of the unit.  This was accomplished with 6 IT Forensics Officer recruited and trained within a year.

With the debut of Millennium Park in 2006 and the Sheriff’s Department charged with its law enforcement responsibilities, Sheriff Stelma again approached The Squad and requested that they establish a Mounted Unit to assist in policing the expansive area of the park.  This was to be a significant undertaking both in the research and development of the project and the funding of the start and ongoing maintenance expenses.

Not only has the Sheriff’s Department benefited from the Mounted Unit, the entire Kent County community has shared and enjoyed the presence of the unit at parades, festivals, neighborhood events and patrol duties.  The horses are always a big attraction for children and adults alike.

The Mounted Unit is still a work in progress.  Sufficient funds have been raised to purchase horses, tack, a truck, two (2) trailers and many other items.  This has been accomplished through the fund raising efforts of The Squad’s non-profit sister organization, The Traffic Squad Safety and Community Action Fund, Inc., a 501(c)(3) charitable organization.  The project is not complete as we are in Phase II of the project, where we are conducting a capital campaign to raise sufficient funds from the private sector to build a permanent stabling and training facility and establish an endowment fund to aid in the long term maintenance of the unit.  Please note that there are no public/government/department funds allocated or available for the development and operation of the unit.

With the reduction in law enforcement agency budgets, requests for service from all The Squad’s various units continue to grow and expand.  As in the past, The Traffic Squad stands ready to assist in any way it can and will continue to evolve and expand as the Sheriff of Kent County deems necessary.