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June 23, 2022 ASSOCIATED NEWSPAPERS OF MICHIGAN PAGE 7

WESTLAND
WESTLAND

Promoted

Westland police mark promotions,

welcome new officers to department

The Westland Police through the Michigan State
Department recently celebrated Police as a drug recognition
several promotions and new expert. He is a member of the
hires during a promotion cere- Westland Police Honor Guard, a
mony. Seven veteran officers department instructor in
were promoted to the ranks of Radar/Lidar and SFST and the
lieutenant and sergeant and two new sergeant recently joined the
former Police Service Aides Committee on Disability
were sworn in as police officers. Concerns as the police represen-
Michael Little and Kameron tative.
Sleep were promoted to the rank
of lieutenant, Jason Soulliere, Pettit grew up Westland and
Kevin Yudt, Brandon Pettit, started as a Westland Police
Rodney Donald were promoted Explorer at age 13. He graduated
to the rank of sergeant and from John Glenn High School
Mohammed Alzayadi and before completing the Detroit cer with the Altamonte Springs toward an associate's degree in Jedrusik said he was proud of
Jackson Allison were sworn in as Police Academy in 2007. He Police Department in Florida. criminal justice and graduated the officers and the department.
new officers. served the City of Detroit as a After he and family made the from the Wayne County Regional “Throughout the country law
police officer for 5 years prior to move to Michigan, he joined the Police Academy in May of 2022. enforcement agencies are strug-
Little, now a lieutenant, earned coming to Westland. In Westland, Westland Police Department He is currently in the field train- gling with police recruitment. I
an associate's degree in criminal the newly named sergeant has where he spent time working as ing program. am proud to say that we are still
justice from Kirtland College been an evidence technician, a patrol officer, community able to attract quality candidates.
where he also graduated from community police officer, a mem- police officer and most recently New officer Allison was born You can clearly see that after
the police academy. He started ber of the crime suppression as the school resource officer for and raised in Redford and went hearing the bios on our two new
his career with the Hamtramck unit, a member of the Westland the Wayne-Westland Community to Redford Union High School hires and our promoted lieu-
Police Department in 2006 tactical response unit, and police School District. Donald is a field where he was a part of the tenants and sergeants. Another
before being hired by the sniper. Most recently he was training officer, recruitment National Honor Society and was common factor is how so many of
Westland Police Department in assigned to the Westland police team member, and active shooter a varsity member of the swim our police hires grew up locally.
2009. Miller has been a K9 detective bureau. instructor for the department. He team, baseball and soccer all four That says a lot for our communi-
Handler, member of the recruit- spends his free time coaching years of high school. He went on ty,” Jedrusik said.
ment team, a member of the Newly promoted sergeant football at John Glenn High to graduate from Wayne State “Over the years, we have seen
Wayne County Mobile Field Donald is a second generation School and his son's youth base- University with a bachelor's a large number of new police
Force Team, member of the officer whose father served with ball team. degree in criminal justice and a officers come to Westland
Critical Stress Management the Garden City Police minor in global studies. He because they grew up here. We
Team and a member of the Department. He attended New officer Alzayadi was born began working for Westland as a have seen that in our police
Westland Tactical Response Unit Brevard College in North in a refugee camp in Saudi police service aide in May of department, our fire department,
and was most recently been Carolina and played running Arabia to two Iraqi parents, 2019 and was promoted to trainer city council and even the mayor
assigned to the Westland Police back for the football team and moved to the United States six position in December of 2020. He who grew up in Westland and
Special Investigation Unit (SIU), then attended Valencia College months after being born, grew up graduated from the Wayne went to John Glenn. This demon-
where he will continue to serve Criminal Justice Academy in in Dearborn and is a Fordson County Regional Police Academy strates the importance of pro-
as the bureau commander. Orlando, FL. He is currently fin- High School graduate. He is the in May of 2022 and is currently in grams, such as the Explorers and
ishing his education at Columbia third youngest of 10 siblings. He the field training program. When the PSA (Police Service Aide)
New Lt. Sleep earned his asso- Southern University Online. was a police service aide for two not working, he volunteers as a program. These programs are
ciate's degree in criminal justice Donald started his career as a years, and then was promoted to youth soccer coach for the club helping to develop future
from Schoolcraft College. He was cadet with the Ocoee Police a trainer position in the program. where he formerly played. Westland police officers,” the
hired as a police officer by Department and then as an offi- Alzayadi is currently working Westland Police Chief Jeff chief concluded.
Westland in May 2007. During his
time as an officer he was a part of
the Westland Tactical Response
Unit, a member of the sniper
team and was the assistant team
leader. He was also a field train-
ing officer and is a current mem-
ber of the Westland Police Honor
Guard, an instructor of active
shooter response, ALICE,
firearms, less lethal impact
munitions, divisionary devices,
OC/CS pepper spray and deploy-
able devices, and counter
ambush tactics. Sleep was pro-
moted to the rank of sergeant in
February 2019, and was assigned
to the detective bureau.

Soulliere, promoted to the rank
of sergeant, was hired by the
Westland Police Department in
November 2012. He was a mem-
ber of the Westland Tactical
Response Unit from 2015-2020
and was a sniper for the team.
He was a field training officer,
and is a Police Honor Guard
Team member, and a member of
the Westland Police critical inci-
dent stress management team. In
2016 he was named Westland
Police Officer of the Year.

Yudt is a Westland native who
earned his bachelor's degree in
criminal justice from Madonna
University and graduated from
the Wayne County Regional
Police Academy. Prior to being
hired in Westland in 2004, he
worked one year for the Wayne
County Sheriff's Department.
Yudt has worked in the traffic
bureau, the motor carrier divi-
sion, is a trained accident recon-
structionist, and was trained

Police Chief Jeff Jedrusik