The Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety (KDPS) is the department charged with

police The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...

fire Fire is the rapid oxidation of a fuel in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction Product (chemistry), products. Flames, the most visible portion of the fire, are produced in the combustion re ...

and rescue operations in

Kalamazoo, Michigan Kalamazoo ( ) is a city in Kalamazoo County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Kalamazoo had a population of 73,598. It is the principal city of the Kalamazoo–Portage metropolitan are ...

. It is the largest public safety department in the nation, with over 250 sworn officers. Each officer serves as a Police Officer, Firefighter, and Medical First Responder.

Public safety model

The Kalamazoo Police Department and Kalamazoo Fire Department were merged in the 1980s with the goal of saving significant tax payer money while increasing the amount of police and fire protection for its citizens. The merger of the departments was a difficult process on reaching agreement with unions covering the fire department and police department. The difficult effort of the merger of the departments along with the successes was even noted by the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

in the

Congressional Record The ''Congressional Record'' is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress, published by the United States Government Publishing Office and issued when Congress is in session. The Congressional Record Ind ...

. As the largest public safety department in the nation, Kalamazoo Public Safety is now considered a model public safety department and often consults and trains other cities throughout the world on the public safety model.

Controversies

In 1995 a grand jury was convened to investigate missing cash and contraband from Kalamazoo Public Safety's evidence room. Although much of the evidence and investigation remains secret and the US Attorney declined to prosecute, the city attorney at the time has publicly acknowledged that the incident happened In 2013, the department received the results of a year-long, independent study it commissioned on racial targeting. The study showed that police in Kalamazoo were more than twice as likely to pull over black drivers than white drivers. Since this time the department has been working hard to confront the racial bias in its department and has received international news coverage for attempting to address the racial issues the department acknowledges it has. In June 2025, the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety blocked external access to its automated license plate reader cameras after it was revealed that searches of its camera data were being performed by other law enforcement agencies for "immigration-related violations."

Casualties

On April 18, 2011, while responding to a shots fired call in Kalamazoo's Edison neighborhood, PSO Eric Zapata was fatally shot. Officer Zapata was the first officer in Kalamazoo to be killed in the line of duty.

References

External links

Kalamazoo Public Safety Promotional Video
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kalamazoo Department Of Public Safety Municipal police departments of Michigan Fire departments in Michigan Kalamazoo, Michigan 1983 establishments in Michigan