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Sgt. Andrew Majewski had his sergeant badge pinned on by his wife, Riley Majewski.
Photo by Patricia O’Blenes
Southfield Police Chief Elvin Barren welcomes newly sworn-in Officer Carlos Toombs, who had his badge pinned by his mother, Valerie Payne.
Photo by Patricia O’Blenes
SOUTHFIELD — The Southfield Police Department welcomed nine new officers to the force of 118 recently.
The department held a promotion and swear-in ceremony June 21 in the courtyard outside the police station, welcoming Anthony Allen, Anes Cehic, Zacary Cross, Bennett Hovorka, Michael Jackson, John Kelsey, Nicholas Pasek, David Spens and Carlos Toombs.
“The badge of a police officer is a privilege, not a right. You’re privileged to sit here and join the ranks as an officer of the police department, any police department, but in this case, the Southfield Police Department, so take that very seriously and take that in a meaningful way, because your actions cannot only affect the Southfield Police Department. It affects our entire profession,” Southfield Police Chief Elvin Barren said during the ceremony. “You think about what happened at some of these questionable incidents around the country; all the police departments had to deal with it. It didn’t happen in Southfield, but when George Floyd was murdered, I tell you, me and Mayor Siver responded to over 50 protests that came to Southfield, assuring the community that’s not representative of this agency.”
Barren emphasized the importance of destigmatizing mental health and creating more awareness for police officers to get help if they need it.
He spoke to the families of the new and current officers.
“What we ask as an organization, what I ask as police chief, is monitor your loved ones. Make sure that their mental health hasn’t taken a decline, because they are to see some things and do some things that are going to be tragic. They’re going to respond to incidents that will cause them to have some kind of emotional breakdown,” he said. He added that as a response to that, the department has established the crisis intervention mental health team that will provide officers with mental health support.
During the ceremony, the Police Department also promoted Joseph Martinez, Andrew Majewski and Detective Hussein Bzeih to the rank of sergeant, and Alexandra Sinani to the rank of detective.
Barren spoke highly of Detective Sinani’s compassion and commended her ability to console a family in a time of distress. He explained that a mother was concerned about having the SWAT team in the house with her son suffering from mental illness, and Sinani provided comfort and reassurance to her.
“The fact that she was able to calm down that family spoke volumes and deliver on the promises she made to the family without incident,” he said. “These are the things we’re going to continue to highlight.”
“I think the biggest component of it is actually empathizing with someone, which can come naturally for some,” Sinani said. “I feel like it comes naturally to me, but at the same time, learning how to actually say the right things is something you definitely have to learn on the job after some time.”
Barren said that accountability and integrity are important to the department and that having police officers wearing body cameras lets the “cameras do the talking” to maintain transparency with the community.
Becca Woods, the mother of Majewski, said she is extremely proud of him.
“He’s always wanted to help people in his lifetime, and he’s doing what he’s always wanted to do. And as a mom, I couldn’t be more proud of him.”
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