Chief’s job more than enforcement for Columbus native
BALTIMORE — As the police chief in a small village, Mike Tussey’s job is about more than just law enforcement.
“I would say that when people need something or they want a question answered, then the chief of a small agency is the one they come to,” he said.
Tussey regularly meets with citizens at a village coffee shop to answer questions and talk about their concerns. He hosts his Coffee with a Cop sessions three days each week.
“I go down and spend an hour or so,” Tussey said. “People know I’m there. They come in and talk about problems in the community or ask questions. That’s been very successful.”
Sometimes the sessions get interrupted by police calls, as Tussey still patrols the village each day.
“I would say for a community of our size we’d be considered relatively busy,” he said of the calls.
Tussey’s career goes back to 1977 when the Columbus native got a parttime position with Junction City Police
Department. He later worked for the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office, the Lancaster Police Department and the Westerville Police Department.
He stayed with Westerville for about 20 before taking his current position in 2007 at the 12-person department.
Tussey was a certified welder before embarking on his police career.
“The Carter Administration had enacted the oil embargo and everything that I built was for oil fields,” he said. “So they came in and had a mass layoff. A friend of mine was the marshal at Junction City and asked if I’d be interested in a parttime position with him.”
Tussey said he thought he’d do that job temporarily, but it actually was the starting point for his law enforcement career.
“I found it to be amazingly interesting,” he said. “Having something different on your plate every day. Going different places every day and meeting all kinds of people. This sounds cliched, but you actually get to a point where you’ve got quite a few years in you run across people you dealt with years ago.
“And in many cases it’s interesting because someone you had a negative contact with now all of a sudden they’re a successful person. They’ve got a family. You do take some pride when those things happen and I think that’s a driving force that keeps you going.”
Tussey said one of the major differences in working for a small department as compared to a larger one like Westerville is that his officers must be wellrounded. For example, police officers in a larger department turn large cases over to their detectives for further investigation and production. But in a small village like Baltimore, the officers are the detectives.
“They have to be much better versed in how a case starts at the beginning and goes to the end,” Tussey said.
He said crimes involving children are one of the worst parts of being a police officer.
“Especially for the newer guys,” Tussey said. “There’s a natural propensity to want to protect children. When you see a child that’s been abused, whether it’s physically, mentally, sexually, it is really tough to keep your professionalism and do what you have to do to make sure that child gets justice.”
Tussey said another challenge is seeing how much society is immersed in the drug world.
“I always say if you take a pencil and draw a line from any crime it will eventually take you back to some kind of a drug or alcohol kind of issue,” he said.
Along with his police duties, Tussey is a member of the Fairfield County Republican Party Central Committee. Also, last year he ran in the Republican primary against Alex Lape for sheriff, a race that Lape won.
As for the politics, Tussey said he wants to back other candidates now. But he said he would not rule out running for sheriff again.
“But at this point I don’t have anything on the burner,” Tussey said.
Away from work, he enjoys watching his grandchildren play sports. He is also restoring a 1979 Chevrolet truck. He bought the track new, then sold it in 1987 to his father, who didn’t drive it much.
“About 26 years ago he put in the barn with the idea that ‘I’ll probably get it out if I need it,’” Tussey said. “He covered it with blankets and it as sat there for 26 years. It only has 46,000 miles on it. So all in all it’s pretty solid.” jbarron@gannett.com 740-304-9296
Twitter: @Jeffdbarron