In an effort to streamline and enhance the services provided to Plymouth as it continues to grow, the city’s police and fire departments merged into one this past May. Plymouth’s new Public Safety Department is headed up by police chief and director of public safety Mike Goldstein.
Both fire and police personnel are still responsible for their own services, but have combined some administrative resources, like human resources and budgeting, to grow with the community. “Until this measure, we had incredibly functional departments,” Goldstein says. “But we’ve joined them to create synergy to further serve our community … this will allow us to do more and be more effective.”
How has your role as police chief changed with this new department? I’m now both: As the director, I’m responsible for the strategic vision of the department. And being that I grew up with this organization and have been police chief for 11 years, I can serve both roles. But it’s not about hierarchy, it’s about creating a team and building on what we’ve had—and making things better.
What’s the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far? From an operational stance, we work together very effectively and we do a great job. On the administrative side, some of our efforts were duplicated. But while we work operationally well together, the firefighters now have a police chief as their boss. So I needed to find a way to endear myself with them—I’m there for them as much as I am for the police officers. The biggest challenge for me was getting into the fire station and talking with them about any concerns, excitement and fears.
