The Henderson Police Department’s Tony Mills wears a couple of hats – he’s a detective but he also serves as a liaison with state and federal law enforcement agencies to make sure those strong partnerships are in place among the different entities.
But Mills also is from Henderson, and he calls Henderson home, which just strengthens his resolve to make the city he serves even better.
Mills was one of the speakers at last week’s gathering of business and community leaders sponsored by the Henderson-Vance Chamber of Commerce, and he spoke Tuesday with John C. Rose on Town Talk.
In reflecting on his remarks during the Aug. 26 meeting held at Clearview Church, Mills was optimistic.
“I’m as excited as I’ve ever been, being a resident of Henderson, and calling Henderson home, and being an employee for the city of Henderson and working for the Henderson Police Department…seeing this group wanting to come together with the city and work with the city council,” Mills said he has plenty of hope for the Henderson’s future.
Having business leaders come together to voice concerns as well as offer support and suggestions may be just what the community needs to stay on the path toward progress. Having the business and private sectors working in concert with law enforcement is a positive step.
“The Henderson Police Department is a small department,” Mills readily acknowledged. But that doesn’t cloud his opinion of its capabilities. “I will put the Henderson Police Department and its men and women that serve the citizens of Henderson against any police department in the continental United States. That’s their work ethic, that’s their drive to make their community a better place,” he said.
As a liaison with agencies at the state and federal levels, Mills has the opportunity to work with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the local district attorney’s office and Drug Enforcement Agency, among others.
“It takes all of us to work together,” he said, to reach those desirable outcomes of getting the bad guys off the streets and making communities safer.
But once an arrest is made, the wheels of justice sometimes turn slowly. State courts and federal courts may view similar crimes in different ways, he said. “You may get more time in state court for just selling heroin,” he noted. “But throw a gun into the mix, and you’re going to get more time in the federal system.”
Routinely, these external partners meet with local law enforcement to discuss the best way to proceed with prosecution. “We come up with a solution and send it up the avenue that’s going to make the community a better place,” he said.
Being a team player with these other law enforcement partners pays dividends for local departments like Henderson’s, Mills said, because they often have resources that just aren’t available or realistic for smaller forces.
Through collaboration, however, smaller departments often can have a bigger impact when it comes to getting bad guys off the streets – which is one thing that is important to business leaders and private citizens. And business leaders and private citizens are a part of the collaboration effort, he said.
“I wish I didn’t have to tell them that we need their help,” Mills said. “I wish we could get it done by ourselves, but we can’t…everybody needs to do their part.”
If you observe something that just doesn’t look right, or makes the hair stand up on the back of your neck, he said, you need to report it. Even those seemingly insignificant things could be a missing piece of the puzzle that law enforcement officers have been investigating for a while.