Dan McGinnis, Director of Public Safety for Benton

Dan grew up in Grand Rapids and attended the University of Michigan and Western Michigan. His son is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point and is an outstanding athlete. And he has a daughter who is a champion in track and field. Dan coached track and football at SJHS and is currently the head football coach at Benton Harbor HS. 

Dan graduated from the Police Academy in 1999. At that time, someone told him he was too smart to work for the City of Benton Harbor. “When someone tells me I can’t do something, that makes me want to do it even more,” he said. “That’s all the incentive I needed.” And, of course, he has been with the city of Benton Harbor for 26 years now. 

In 2009-2010, the city’s emergency manager at the time merged the Police and Fire Departments. “This was problematic for many reasons, one of which was that Police Officers and Fire Fighters don’t like each other,” he said tongue in cheek. They all had to become cross-trained, and most of the firefighters refused, resulting in the loss of many experienced officers. Additionally, the fire school available at the time was subpar. It was so terrible that Benton Harbor developed its fire school, creating a top-notch school that is very respected. Dan also eliminated 24-hour shifts, a remnant from the firehouse days. He said that it has been shown that officers don’t perform at their best at the end of those long shifts. 

Dan is very proud of his department. “We are 100% not-woke. We just do things as they are supposed to be done.” He added, “Police work is 100% about relationships. We’ve worked hard to establish trust and communication with our citizens.”