With the Help of an 'Angel'

Michigan State Police Angel Program expands to Traverse City.

- Kandace Chapple

Jason DeBeck is an “Angel” for the Michigan State Police (MSP) Angel Program, and he shared one story that says it all: A man who walked—yes, walked—the nearly 30 miles from Grayling to Gaylord to turn himself into the Angel Program at the MSP Gaylord Post.

“And this wasn’t during the summer,” DeBeck says. “It was cold, sometime in March or April. For me, that shows that people desperately need help and will go to any length to get it. It’s a much-needed program.”

Started in 2016 at the Gaylord Post, the Angel Program allows those with a drug or substance abuse problem to turn themselves in at any MSP Post and an “Angel” will help them get the help they need for rehabilitation.

The program is available at all 30 MSP Posts, and while that’s good news for towns Up North like Cadillac and Gaylord, there’s been no such program in place for much of Northern Michigan. That’s why, this year, the Traverse City Police Department is stepping in to fill a need.

Within the next month, the Law Enforcement Center (851 Woodmere Ave., Traverse City) will offer the Angel Program. Anyone can walk in Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., and get the help they need, says Jordan Wieber, Crime Prevention Officer with the Traverse City Police Department. The program is traditionally offered at only MSP Posts, but a handful of city police departments are starting to come on board throughout the state.