Clawson's Jason Rands Named 'Officer of the Year'

Clawson police officer Jason Rands, on the city's police force since 2003, has been named "Officer of the Year" by the Clawson-Troy Elks Lodge 2169, according to Clawson Police Chief Harry Anderson.

"We were looking for someone who not only stood out once or twice, but an officer who goes above and beyond when performing their day-to-day jobs," Anderson said.

Rands received the award at "Law and Order" night at the Elks Lodge.

Rands was nominated by Anderson and his supervisors because he demonstrated the qualities they were looking for through his work with collecting, processing and organizing evidence.

“He’s one of those guys you enjoy sending out into the community; he’s a good steward and great representative of the ,” Anderson said.

"Our citizens trust us.  That's what you need as a police department, when the trust and respect is there we all get along much better," Rands said.

Rands enjoys working events because he can talk with Clawson residents and show them that the department truly does care about them.

"He (Jason) is one of the officers I get the most compliments about from the public.  Every time we have a community event and he's on duty, residents will make a point to call in and say how polite and helpful the 'big officer with red hair' was," Anderson said.

CSI is not just a television show

Rands was not just chosen for his friendliness: He also has excelled as an evidence technician at the Clawson Police Department for nearly six years.  He is trained in dusting for fingerprints, collecting DNA evidence and gathering other clues at crime scenes.

"It's critical to locate and preserve the evidence at crime scenes, and there has been a lot of major cases he (Jason) has been involved in handling that we would have lost if he hadn’t done a good job," Anderson said.

Rands took over managing the property room in 2010, and in June 2011 decided the old system needed to come into the 21st century.

With technical assistance from Clawson Police Detective Jody Horne, Rands was able to completely revamp the property room by replacing the old 'paper system' with a computerized database of evidence and property.

"If a detective asks me for a piece of evidence, I can have it for them in a matter of minutes, when it previously could take up to a week," Rands said.

The Clawson Police Department car auctions have doubled since the computerized system was implemented; they now take place up to four times a year and allow for a profit to be made because of lower storage fees.