Лейтенант Ник Робертс уволился после 33 лет службы в полиции Хогтона

Front Page Lt. Nick Roberts bids farewell at retirement party By Graham Jaehnig 4 min read HOUGHTON -- After 33 years with the Houghton City Police Department, Lt. Nick Roberts officially retired Friday. The police department and the city of Houghton hosted a retirement celebration for him in the Houghton City Council Chambers. Police Chief John Donnelly said the department is not just losing a lieutenant; it is losing the face of the department. "He's a pillar of the community," Donnelly said. "Everybody knows the lieutenant, and I've been with him for 33 years. It's a changing of the guard." Donnelly added that Roberts' retirement will be deeply felt across the wider community. "He's going to be missed by everybody," he said. "I mean, the media is going to miss him, the senior citizens will miss him, the schools will miss him. It's going to be hard to have him gone." Addressing the large crowd at the party, Donnelly noted everyone who has worked alongside Roberts knows his deep commitment to the community, the city, and to taking care of people as a whole. In July, the Daily Mining Gazette spoke with Roberts regarding his upcoming retirement. When asked about his accomplishments, he admitted he started out decades ago not knowing how to do it. But over the past three decades, he has learned and accomplished far more than the general public might realize. While much of his work happened behind the scenes, Roberts quietly became the regional architect for modern mental health policing in the Keweenaw. Recognizing a gap in how law enforcement interacted with individuals experiencing psychiatric crises, he actively worked to pivot the department away from traditional containment tactics and toward clinical de-escalation. Providing Crisis Intervention instruction to local law enforcement, Roberts personally leads recurrent training sessions to ensure all officers remain skilled in active, day-to-day de-escalation. He also pioneered the implementation of the state-funded Behavioral Health Emergency Partnership Training for the Houghton department and other local law enforcement agencies. Created by Cardinal Group II, the program combines online prep, classroom instruction, and scenario-based training to teach officers how to safely interact with individuals experiencing a mental health crisis without escalating the situation. Roberts has long advocated for, and actively coordinates, partnerships that put mental health social workers from organizations like Copper Country Mental Health directly into police cruisers during active calls whenever possible. His dedication extends beyond the department; he serves on the boards of the Copper Shores Community Health Foundation, the Baraga-Houghton-Keweenaw Community Action Agency, and Copper Country Mental Health Services. In addition to his mental health initiatives, Roberts spearheaded many community outreach programs, including Coffee with a Cop. As a primary organizer, he regularly invited community members to Dunkin’ on Memorial Drive to meet local law enforcement and discuss neighborhood concerns. He has also been responsible for coordinating the department’s presence at local elderly outreach events, personally assisting senior citizens coming to the city center during large community gatherings. As for his retirement plans, Roberts said they include -- working. "I'm hopefully going to still work with the community, but somewhere else," he said. "I do have things coming up where I can still do a lot of the stuff that I'm doing now." An Oakland native and a graduate of the Oakland Police Academy, Roberts has only worked for two police departments in his career. "Houghton is the only department I've worked full-time, for 33 years," he said. Prior to his long tenure in Houghton, he served on the Lake Linden police force from August to September, before being hired by the Houghton department in October 1993. Looking ahead, Roberts said it is simply time to step aside. "It's time to let the younger officers take more control," he said. "They deserve it. We have great officers here, I trust them all."