When Mike Johnson graduated with a degree in recreational therapy from Eastern Michigan University in 1982, he had no idea that someday he’d be tracking felons across the United States. Today, that’s just one of his duties as a detective sergeant on the Oakland County Sheriff Department’s elite Fugitive Apprehension Team. It’s been a long and interesting path that Mike has followed since college, and his involvement, both as a cadet and as a staff member at Oakland Community College’s Police Academy, has played an important role in that journey.

Looking back, Mike says "the training I received at the academy provided an excellent foundation in police procedures…and helped shape my career." But like many young people, Mike’s career goals were rather undefined when he graduated from EMU. "I wanted to gain some maturity and maybe see the world" he says. So in 1982 he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps.  Finishing active duty in 1989, Mike, who had also earned a social work certificate at EMU, took a job in the field for which he’d trained – as an inpatient and outpatient therapist at Pontiac’s St. Joseph Hospital. "I liked the interaction of social work" Mike says, "but a growing interest in law enforcement made me think that I could use these skills in a more satisfying career."

In 1991 he decided to sign up with the Oakland County Sheriff’s Department as a deputy. He served on the Road Patrol, and later put his military experience to good use as a drill instructor at Camp Nichols, the department’s highly effective boot camp designed to cut down the recidivism rate among young offenders.

To enhance his professional skills, Mike enrolled in OCC’s Police Academy in 1994. By the end of eleven weeks’ rigorous training he had been elected class president, named executive squad leader, and received an award for excellence. So impressed were the police academy administrators with his performance that he was invited to join the staff in 1996 as assistant director, working at the academy during the day, while continuing his duties at the sheriff’s department at night.

"Mike set the standard for assistant directors" says Police Academy Training Coordinator Dick Tillman. "He is an outstanding person who proved an incredible role model for the cadets."

Another of Mike’s accomplishments while working with the police academy was the establishment of a law enforcement color guard. The group, which draws members from agencies across Oakland County, appears at all OCC commencements and police academy graduations. In 1998 Mike was promoted to sergeant, and his days were no longer open to serve at the academy. His new assignment was the supervision of Camp Nichols, where he had earlier served as drill sergeant.

In 2000 Mike assumed responsibility for managing operations at Oakland County’s Main Jail and Jail Annex. Among his duties were discipline, investigations of inmate grievances, employee evaluations, setting up work schedules and maintaining payroll records. He also served, as needed, at the Command Desk where he supervised all of the department’s county operations, including tricky and hazardous vehicle pursuits. "The assignment gave me good experience in a wide variety of situations and responsibilities and I enjoyed the exposure", Mike says. In 2002 Mike was recommended for the department’s select Fugitive Apprehensive Team and successfully interviewed for the position. The team has wide-ranging responsibilities including criminal background investigations, apprehension of parole violators, criminal surveillance, and – in the role that took Mike cross-country to New Orleans recently – felony extraditions.

"To be successful in this line of work requires a combination of luck, intuition and education, and our team includes some of the best trackers in the country", Mike says. Service on the team is not the final stop on Mike’s career path. He plans  on beginning a Master’s degree in criminal justice as soon as his schedule frees up, then becoming "the best command officer I can be."  But let his instructor, mentor and former police academy supervisor  Dick Tillman have the last word: "Mike is a great asset to his department and to the community at large; he’s bound to wind up in top management in the not-too-distant future…for him, the sky’s the limit" Tillman says with pride.

Who would ever think that on OCC’s peaceful Auburn Hills Campus there would  be so much crime? Staged crime, that is. The OCC campus is the home of CREST, the Combined Regional Emergency Services Training facility that is the only one of its kind in the nation. The 22-acre site is a simulated city that currently contains three furnished homes, a school, a convenience store and gas station, a bank, a motel and a school. It has sidewalks and traffic signals punctuating its streets, which are named for major donors to the facility: Takata Circle recognizes contributions by the worldwide automotive supplier; Consumers Energy Foundation Avenue acknowledges a grant toward construction of CREST’s future fire training facility; and Auch Company Drive notes the role of CREST’s contractor, the George W. Auch firm, for its contributions and those of its subcontractors. CREST is a national model for providing police, fire and EMT personnel with comprehensive, scenario-based training. The first two agencies to try the facility out with full-fledged training exercises were the Oakland County Sheriff’s Special Response Team (SRT) and the Troy Police Department’s elite Tactical Support Team.

On November 13, 2002, the Oakland County Sheriff’s SRT staged a bank robbery, hostage situation, drug raid and police chase. On January 28, Troy Police used the bank building – donated and furnished by Standard Federal Bank and named for them – to enact a realistic robbery-hostage scenario, complete with a smoke screen, and the stunning noise and light of flash-bang grenades.

Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard says it’s "exciting to have facilities where we can practice real-life scenarios without disrupting a neighborhood or business community. CREST gives us an opportunity to experiment with different approaches to emergency situations. We don’t have the luxury of experimenting in a real life situation."

The $15-million CREST project has received funding from a variety of sources: federal, state and local monies, as well as corporate and private contributions. Donations are still welcome, and companies and  individuals may want to contribute by purchasing memorial bricks on CREST’s "Pathway of Honor" at the CREST classroom building . For information about donating to the "Pathway of Honor," please see.

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