Hansen named Hannahville chief of police

HANNAHVILLE — The Hannahville Tribal Police Department recently welcomed Jeff Hansen into its ranks as the department’s newest chief of police.

“To be the Chief of Police at Hannahville, I consider it the greatest honor of my criminal justice career. I’m very proud to be part of the professional community at Hannahville,” he said.

Hansen’s road to becoming Hannahville’s chief of police was less straight-forward than many others who work in law enforcement. The son of a former Escanaba Public Safety director, Hansen initially rejected the idea of following in his father’s footsteps. But after testing out a number of different majors in college, he ultimately settled into criminal justice.

That brought Hansen to the Delta County Sheriffs Department, where he served as a corrections officer in the county jail for 20 years and then spent another five with the department doing security and prisoner transport at the Delta County Courthouse.

After 25 years with the department, Hansen was speaking with someone who worked in Hannahville who mentioned the tribal police were seeking a chief of police. Hansen interviewed for the position in December of last year and was offered the job, but he had a tough road ahead of him, as he needed to become properly credentialed to serve in law enforcement.

Hansen was sent to the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ U.S. Indian Police Academy in Artesia, New Mexico for 13 weeks. He described the academy as “grueling.”

“I was the oldest guy in the academy at 47, and they don’t really build those academies for people that are 47 years old, because, I mean, you’re standing at attention in formation and getting dropped for push-ups if your boots aren’t shining enough and the whole nine yards. It’s a very military-based, boot camp-style police academy,” said Hansen.

About 50 percent of the cadets in the class quit, were kicked out, or failed the exams needed to finish the program. Hansen, on the other hand, was given the Director’s Award as the academy’s top graduate.

“So score one for the old guys, I guess,” he said.

Hansen graduated from the academy on April 5 and got to work for Hannahville on April 8. He was officially sworn in a month later.

“It was a non-traditional path to take to get here, I would say. But it was kind of one of those things where it just felt right. Like, as soon as I got out here and started having conversations with people, I was like, okay, I’m going to do this,” he said.

He hit the ground running, and credits the support of the department’s officers as well as the community-minded spirit of the Hannahville Indian Community.

“I honestly can’t imagine being in that position … anywhere else but at HPD,” he said.

That doesn’t mean there aren’t challenges. Tribal law is fundamentally different from what Hansen was familiar with from his time at the Delta County Sheriff’s Department. Instead of enforcing Michigan State Law, Hansen now oversees the enforcement of tribal and federal laws.

“The biggest adjustment for me is there’s a lot of new learning and learning the different processes that exist from a criminal justice standpoint in Hannahville versus, say, somewhere that is non-tribal. And that was one of the huge benefits to going to the BIA Police Academy — it’s a tribally-based police education,” he said.

Despite the differences, Hansen’s primary goal for the department is similar to the goals of many other rural police chiefs: tackle serious drug crimes.

“The front and center when it comes to our efforts at HPD is to make sure that we keep the community safe by eradicating as much as possible serious drug use,” he said.

Tackling drug crimes is often a multi-jurisdictional project, and even when it’s not, drawing from the expertise and resources of other departments can be crucial. In addition to working with the Upper Peninsula Substance Enforcement Team (UPSET), Hansen noted the close working relationships the Hannahville police have with the Delta County and Menominee County sheriff’s departments and the Michigan State Police.

But Hansen has another way to network.

“I also have been an MMA practitioner for the last 20 years. … I’m a master instructor of defensive tactics for police, corrections, and military, and I travel around the country doing seminars and hands-on training in that regard,” said Hansen.

Hansen’s mixed martial arts background and focus on defensive tactics has taken him to places like Las Vegas, Chicago, and New Orleans. He has trained police, corrections officers, and military, like the U.S. Marine Corps, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the Green Berets.

“You learn a lot when you train with other people too, so you have the ability to bring good professional networking and some other theories on best practices when it comes to policing to your home department. So it’s been really positive,” said Hansen.

Beyond MMA, Hansen enjoys creative writing, playing guitar, and traveling with his wife, Kristina, who currently serves as the superintendent for Manistique Area Schools. It was Kristina’s time as an educator at Nah Tah Wahsh PSA that introduced Hansen to the Hannahville community.

“I had had a previous connection to Hannahville prior to my coming to work here and always appreciated the community and the essence of what the community is,” said Hansen, recalling the impact of his time volunteering at the youth center when his wife was a teacher, more recent events like the recently held Community Pow Wow, and hearing the history of the community from tribal elders.

Hansen says he intends to be involved in all aspects of Hannahville’s community life, including cultural and social events. His focus on the community is both personally and professional.

“I think that the best police officers are the ones that are fully engaged in the profession and fully believe in the mission and the concept that crime victims deserve as much justice as we can provide in the community. The thriving community that we want is something that’s worth working as hard as you can for every single day,” said Hansen