GRAND HAVEN, Mich. — To say that new Grand Haven Department of Public Safety Director Nichole Hudson met with community members for the first time on Wednesday would be a tad misleading. Hudson grew up in Spring Lake and has made a career for herself just across the drawbridge in Grand Haven.
"I started when I was 19 as a parking cadet, and if you can handle driving a little three-wheeled Cushman, marking tires, and getting yelled at over a $5 parking ticket, then you can pretty much handle anything," she said with a smile.
Shortly after that experience, the Grand Valley State University graduate became a uniformed officer in Grand Haven. Over her 21 years working for the city, she's risen through the ranks from sergeant to lieutenant, and last week she was named chief. It's an opportunity she's excited about.
"We have something special in the Tri-Cities. We have a great community that supports us, and we have a great department, city manager, city council, and just overall, we have something very special that it's worth working for and fighting for," she said, noting that she's turned down opportunities to go to other departments, and to leave law enforcement altogether.
"There's a reason why Grand Haven is special. This is why we have people that come to the lakeshore. Between the lakes, the waterfront, our businesses, the community is just very welcoming to our visitors. So it means a lot to me to represent our department."
Wednesday night's meet-and-greet at Central Park Place on Columbus Avenue was a chance for people to find out what Chief Hudson has planned for the department. She said right now they're preparing for Coast Guard Festival. Once that's over she'll shift her focus to one of her main priorities, investing in her officers both personally and professionally.
"We want to be able to thrive, not just survive, so really seeing what our officers have been maybe lacking, or what their goals and passions are, to see how we can implement whatever we need to, either training or education, because if they're confident in their ability, then they're just going to portray that with the service that they give the community. So that's really what my next step is," she said.
Chief Hudson is the first woman in Grand Haven's history to hold the position of public safety director, but she said she hadn't thought about that until someone brought it up.
"It's a male-dominated career. I'm used to that. It's what I know. It's what I'm comfortable in, I think. I just know that sometimes I have to work a little bit harder, prove a little bit more, and at the end of the day, I don't think of as a gender thing," she said.
"Being the first, I'm hoping that at least it shows those young females, those little girls, or future female officers, to realize you can achieve whatever you want to achieve. You can break barriers. You're just as capable. You just have to be competent and confident and be able to do the job."
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