For the last 15 years, Melinda Benson has spent many birthdays celebrating within the walls of MSU’s Department of Police and Public Safety.
With her September birthday falling right when students return to campus, it’s the only way she has the chance to see her husband, MSU police Chief Bruce Benson, on her special day.
“He’ll always say ‘I know how to show my wife a good time,’” she joked. “There isn’t much time, but we really enjoy the campus when we get the free time to do it.
“When we had the riots, I had brought a picnic to the department so we could watch the game. On the way home, I turned it off. I don’t like to watch those things when he’s gone. I don’t worry, but I don’t want to worry.”
But Benson, who is celebrating his 15-year anniversary as chief of the department this month, said there has been less and less need to worry every year.
Felonies on campus have dropped from 2,167 in 1987 to 675 in 2000 - a statistic Benson says his implementation of community policing has helped tally.
“Our rate continues to go down from already low points,” the 54-year-old said. “The response from students was really wonderful. It’s frustrating when someone looks at a blue uniform and says they’re a hard-nosed police officer.”
After graduating from MSU in 1969, Benson began working at the Flint Police Department. Although he learned the basics of community policing in the city, that type of police work was very different.
“It’s a very violent city,” he said. “But I had few large crowd control problems. Football crowds were something we never would have had to deal with.”
As the crowds on campus grow every year, the number of officers - and the number of college degrees - has increased.
Each of MSU’s 60 sworn officers have a bachelor’s degree. Fourteen have a master’s degree. Benson himself has a doctorate.
“We used to be a very traditional white male organization,” he said. “This group has changed a lot. We have probably one of the most diverse departments in the state.”
East Lansing police Chief Louis Muhn said he’s noticed positive changes in the way the departments interact - and the way they interact with the students - since Benson took control.
“We have boundary streets where you could count on if an officer is making a traffic stop, you could count on a campus officer to be there,” he said. “You can learn a lot from how one place does it. You can get good ideas.”
While police work has changed as the years progress, Benson hasn’t changed that much from the boy from St. Joseph, Mich. who struggled in early college classes and worked as many as four part-time jobs just to pay tuition bills.
“What you need in a good police officer is common sense, a sense of humor and a sense of compassion - and Bruce has all three,” said Robert McFadden, a long-time friend and former Flint police officer. “I’m glad he got the opportunity to be the big boss but sad because he’s not around as much.”
MSU police Deputy Chief Mike Rice said Benson has dealt with the criticism that comes with being police chief - like the recent controversy over an undercover investigation of a student group - with honesty and personality.
“With Bruce, what you see is what you get,” he said. “You have to enjoy folks, particularly young people, to work in a community like ours. It’s difficult to survive if you don’t show yourself as you really are.”
To show students who they really are, Benson asked officers to throw away their old name tags and adopt the less-formal tag. He goes by Bruce instead of chief or doctor.
With his future wide-open, Benson said he’s not sure how long he’ll remain chief. His interest in teaching has increased as he’s learned from his job, he said.
“I know I’m not going to quit working,” he said. “You have to have a good sense of humor and not be thin-skinned. Police work seemed like the kind of profession where you could really do something for people.
“It just seemed right to me.”
