By Lisa Carolin
Chelsea Police Chief Kevin Kazyak was the guest speaker at the June 7 meeting of the Chelsea Human Rights Commission.
Kazyak answered questions from HRC members about developing a strategic plan for the police department for the next five years. He said the goal is to gather information from the public as to where they want to see their police department in the next five years.
The City of Chelsea created the Community Public Safety Strategic Planning Group in 2022 to ensure that the mission and vision of the Chelsea Police Department (CPD) is in alignment with that of the city’s. The Chelsea Police Department has also been working with SMART, the Southeast Michigan Criminal Justice Policy Research Project.
Kazyak told the HRC that they’re looking at the possibility of engagement events where they can hear more from the community and may provide a drop box at the police department where people can drop off comments. The time frame is to have the information gathered and shared by December of this year.
HRC members approved a motion to publicize activities occurring in Washtenaw County for Juneteenth on Friday, June 16, which became an official holiday in 2021.
They also discussed Pride March, which took place June 3, mostly along Main Street in Chelsea, and said included close to 60 participants.
There is currently an opening on the HRC. For more information, go to https://www.city-chelsea.org/boards-committees-commissions.
The next regularly scheduled meeting of the HRC is on July 5 at 7 p.m.
