After 25 years with the Berlin Police Department, Chief Miller is retiring. During his three years as chief, the department saw plenty of technological change
Having been with the department since Feb. 1 1994, it’s fair to say a lot has changed since Chief of Police Michael Miller first walked in the Berlin Police Department doors.
Miller was born in neighboring Berlin Township and worked as a summer cop at the shore for three years before landing with the Berlin Police Department 25 years ago, beginning his rise through the department as a detective, street sergeant, administrative sergeant and more.
However, Chief Miller will retire from the Berlin Police Department effective Friday, March 15. The news was announced at the Berlin Borough February council meeting, and at the time of this article, a Chief to succeed Miller has not yet been announced.
Over the years, much has changed both in the department and in the community. With regard to the public, the drug epidemic has continued to evolve.
“You see different phases over time; the ’90s was pretty much marijuana, but now you’re seeing a heroin epidemic, it goes through phases,” Miller said. “Meth is making a comeback, even though it hasn’t been around for a while.”
The Sun reported in February that drug arrests reached an all-time high in Berlin Borough, something Miller cites as the department’s stance as being tough on crime and creating a safe environment for residents.
Over the years, however, change has also come through the police department as well. Since Miller became chief in late 2016, a new wave of technology has covered the department to help officers save time and enable them to better protect both themselves and residents.
According to Councilman Jim Pearce, a large part of the reason why Pearce looked to Miller as the next chief when interviewing candidates was Miller’s desire to bring the department to the 21st century with technology and equipment.
New software programs used by the department assist officers in more easily being able to fill out daily reports as well as for intelligence, helping better streamline production. Programs such as this help the department get closer to going paperless, as well as saving time.
In the effort to both improve capabilities for officers and long-term health, all equipment was removed from their belts and placed on the vests on their chests. Since Miller became chief, all officers now have a Taser, a second detective works in the department to assist officers in solving crimes, and two school resource officers have been hired to protect students at Berlin Community School, among additional improvements.
Of course, being chief of police comes with plenty of difficulties, such as being on call practically all the time. Being a small department, decisions can often feel magnified.
“We’re a small department, it’s not like we’re a big city department where you make a decision that affects an officer and you probably don’t know who he is,” Miller said. “The decisions you make as chief affect everybody and you know that person, you know their family.”
“But I have a duty first to the town and to the department,” Miller added.
As chief, Miller hoped to be able to provide the best police department possible for residents while being responsible with taxpayer money, seeing that government agencies around the country and world can often be irresponsible with taxpayer money.
“We need to look at government agencies as a business — there’s no inherent desire to provide a good service when you’re in government because it’s tax money, you won’t go out of service,” Miller said.
Miller said he hoped to be able to go against the grain in that aspect and sought to be the best department he can lead.
“I think we need to provide good service and be a valuable asset to the community because people do pay a lot of taxes, so that was very important to me to change that mindset,” Miller said.
Pearce believes Miller did an exceptional job in helping the department move forward since becoming chief nearly three years ago, helping provide a strong but listening ear at the top of the department.
“It does take a whole team, but without the leader being open to change and new ways of looking at things, it might not happen,” Pearce said. “He was always very open to ideas from officers in the department, which is the right way, I think, to run a team.”
