The National Police Association Podcast with Guest, Amy Hawkins, Chair of Police Week Michigan, Writer and Speaker
Hi. This is Sergeant Betsy Brantner Smith with the National Police Association, and this is the National Police Association podcast. You know, I, I'm a cop, but I'm also, an activist, and I've been involved in grassroots politics, for quite some time. And I found somebody on X formerly known as Twitter whose, views I was really drawn to because of her her activism, her knowledge, and especially her love of law enforcement. So I thought that, because I admire her so much, you needed to meet her because you're gonna wanna get to know her and you're gonna wanna follow her.
Betsy Smith:Amy Jayne Hawkins, welcome to the show.
Amy Jayne Hawkins:Thank you so much. It is I like I told you before, you're a hero of mine, so it's an honor to meet you and to talk to your audience. So thank you.
Betsy Smith:So how did you get in yeah. So let's start out by saying that you are the chair of, Police Week Michigan, which is a huge undertaking.
Amy Jayne Hawkins:Yes. And I have to blame I'm a lot of your audience will know sheriff Mike Bouchard, Oakland County.
Betsy Smith:Yeah.
Amy Jayne Hawkins:And he's the one to blame for this project, which I'll tell you about whenever you're ready. But, yes, the chair of Police Week Michigan.
Betsy Smith:And Michigan law enforcement is, is, really near and dear to our heart heart. You know, I'm a Midwesterner, and, and, my husband and I have been training police officers in Michigan since the eighties. So we love Michigan. Most of our kids went to college there and, and we appreciate Michigan law enforcement. It's such a diverse state.
Betsy Smith:You know, you have everything from, you know, urban, you know, Detroit to, the woods, your game and fish. Officers are so important. And, so we'll talk about all that, in a minute. But give folks your background and and talk about how you got involved in all this.
Amy Jayne Hawkins:Okay. Well so I was born in the Detroit area, lived in Oklahoma for about 7 years. I have a lot of family there. I was actually I mean, might as well throw it out there. We'll talk about radical things.
Amy Jayne Hawkins:I was actually homeschooled and, and then went on to Spring Arbor University and got a double major in communications and psychology, and then worked basically in the political arena for I've been in and out of political arena now in Michigan for about 20 years, in communications, marketing, grassroots building, fundraising, you name it, run a nonprofit, then on statewide, statewide organizations. But at the at the or statewide petition efforts, at the root of who I am was how I was raised, and that was my dad was a hero in Vietnam. Both of my grandpas were World War 2, and I actually, don't I'm not as you said, I I'm a civilian. I'm not a law enforcement officer, and I do have one cousin now who is a law enforcement, but I come from a massive family. And my grandma of a 101 just passed away, and so it was really this I've been fortunate to be a part of a fabric of a family that loves God, loves America, and believes in serving.
Amy Jayne Hawkins:And so I was raised with this idea that anybody that serves you deserves a thanks from the mailman to, to the people that pick up the trash, right, to the firefighters. Like, these are people that have put themselves into humble situations to take care of my needs, and nothing is nothing is a given. Right? And so that was my background. Little did I know when I left college, when I entered the political fray, that I would have this burning passion for law enforcement, which is a part of the story, but that's a little bit of my background.
Betsy Smith:So if you went to Spring Arbor University, I'm gonna guess your faith is very important to you.
Amy Jayne Hawkins:Very important to me. And obvi and this goes probably without saying, that to me and I probably could get emotional about it. But to me, when I look at law enforcement, it really takes my breath away because the idea it it peril to me personally, it parallels to me my faith, to think of that a savior would put himself on the line for my salvation and my eternity. And then I humbly look at the men and women that choose to put on a badge, that choose to, like, say, Amy, I'll run into danger for you. That is like, that gives me chills even now thinking of it.
Amy Jayne Hawkins:Even all these years I've been working in, in in and with this community is it is it is profound. But to me, it is the very heart of the father, where the father is like, let me intervene for you. Let me help you. Let me serve you. Let me see you in your lowest moments, and let me help you find a solution.
Amy Jayne Hawkins:That is the heart of the law enforcement that just, it it is profound, and I hope I never get over, that that awe inspiring fact of law enforcement.
Betsy Smith:Well and that's really the foundation of the National Police Association. It's you know, we're not a union. We're not something you can join. We're an organization that helps civilians support the American law enforcement officer. And and, you know, we need we need so much more of that.
Betsy Smith:So as this supporter of law enforcement Yeah. And someone who is involved in politics, who is a person of faith, what have you what are your thoughts about the last 4 years and especially, you know, even the last 10 years when you see this vilification and demonization of the American law enforcement officer?
Amy Jayne Hawkins:It hurts so bad. And I think too because so a little bit more of my story where, people can ask me, how did you get involved in politics? And this all ties together. Right? Like, my my big family, the idea of serving others, of appreciating others.
Amy Jayne Hawkins:When I was a child, I was, homeschooled in the eighties nineties, and so we were taught at that point, homeschooling was very unique and very rare, and it was not something everybody even now, they don't understand. So my wise mother taught us that you need to know your elected officials so that if you ever got into trouble, you'd have someone to advocate for you. So that became this kind of formula for me where we would volunteer and walk in parades. We'd make phone calls. And so in other words, instead of waiting for the problem to be on your doorstep, you're building those relationships so so that if you ever needed someone to advocate for you, they know you.
Amy Jayne Hawkins:So fast forward a few years and really as I started to get more involved with, like, grassroots and, you know, your everyday American citizen. And and I just see because I'm driven by hope and I'm driven by I know that God has a God is not done with our nation, but I believe that we as citizens have a holy responsibility to be voting, to be aware of what's going on in our neighborhood. So as we got into actually, it was 2018. And when we were watching, like and I should have the state memorized, but with what was going on in Missouri, and and I would just hear news story after news story of our officers. Like, it doesn't even make sense to the head to the head.
Amy Jayne Hawkins:Right? Because my dad wasn't a police officer. I wasn't married to a police officer. But in the my deep DNA, I could not handle it. I I mean, it was one more attack on you guys after another.
Amy Jayne Hawkins:And so I reached out to my friend that I'd met through politics, Oakland County sheriff Mike Bouchard, and he is a saint. And I reached out to him. I'm like basically, as my grassroot organizer self was just like I mean, I was ready to change the world. I'm like, there's a problem. Let me be a part of the solution.
Amy Jayne Hawkins:And so I reach out to Mike, and I'm like, Mike, what can I do? And he's like, I wish Police Week could be known like Memorial Day. And I'm like, what's Police Week? So I did a little bit of digging, and I go back to him. And I was like, Mike, what about if we make this a statewide movement?
Amy Jayne Hawkins:And because, as you will remember, morale is so low for officers. And I felt like when I said that to him, I was giving a little kid his favorite gift on Christmas morning, and he was like, let's do it. And so a friend of mine, we formed a 501c3. We went all legit with it. We had, there was a famous talks, a a radio host in Michigan at the time, Frank Beckman, who was one of our first donors.
Amy Jayne Hawkins:He has since passed away, but he, at the time, was like, Amy, let's do this big rally. We've got to get something where law enforcement come, and it's so we started putting everything in motion, and then COVID hit, and we had to shut things down. So, really, what has happened when we formed this in about 2019, since now, it's been a volunteer effort. We have basically set out to make it our mission to get citizens to speak up, stand up, and show up for law enforcement. Police week michigan.org.
Amy Jayne Hawkins:People can go. There's flyers they can download. There's things Betsy, it blows my mind away that we're in the 21st century, and it feels like some of the things that we see to tackle would already be a part of our nature as a culture in Michigan. Little things like the legislature. We have taken it on ourselves to go to the legislature and say, will you please put a resolution in motion so that we can acknowledge the week, in May as Police Week?
Amy Jayne Hawkins:That was not a part of the culture here. We have to go ask for it, and it blows my mind. I'm like, this is not the dark ages. So we have taken that on. We have taken, where we're going to the legislators and saying, here's sample language.
Amy Jayne Hawkins:Would you put this forward? And what that does, you know, but the to the average citizen knowing, there it it it basically is almost like drawing a line in the sand where and it's beautiful because Republicans and Democrats come together. And we can send out a press release. We can say, look at what these leaders are doing. They are taking a stand and celebrating what JFK started in 1962.
Amy Jayne Hawkins:And so we're doing that. We're one of our one of my favorite projects, and and people can find this on our website, is taking a flyer that basically you can put into the hands of superintendents and teachers and saying, would you encourage your classroom to write a note to an officer for police week? And, Betsy, the call the emails I'll get from teachers saying, will you come grab? And I can go grab those notes, and then we deliver them to the officers, and that is, like, giving them gold. So it really has just been us, like, just doing what we can as volunteers, putting social media content out, reminding people, you know, putting material into their hands, and seeing slowly, like, local communities come back to us and say, we are passing a resolution.
Amy Jayne Hawkins:We are doing this. We are providing a meal. So trying to do little things that start to really shine a light on the quiet heroes among us.
Betsy Smith:That is so extraordinary. And, you know, Michigan's such a huge state. Do you are you able to touch Michiganders all around the state to get involved in this?
Amy Jayne Hawkins:So right now, we have a very large email list that we send to. We also have a massive list a media list. And so we are very good at, like, getting information, like, putting information out. But I will say, like, we're still in the very beginning stages. We are kind of at the place of I'm needing to figure out I could go in many directions with that this question and answer, but there are there's such a huge need in the state, not only for citizen advocates, but also for even as a 501c3, all we can do is educate.
Amy Jayne Hawkins:And so one of the things that I need to figure out is, how do I aggressively fundraise, right, so that we can become a more, a bigger presence? But, also, do we need to form a pack? Do we need to form a c four? Because the way I look at this is this is not just a one time thing. This is a there is a cultural issue in our state, and we need to be a part of bringing positive forward the small comments from citizens who the majority of them my argument on police week is it is one of the biggest secrets in America.
Amy Jayne Hawkins:And I'm like, if I can get citizens just to even be aware of it, we're making progress. Because if I can get a citizen to go up to an officer during police week, during police month and say happy police week, you have started to you've touched a heart. Like, citizens don't realize how much how little it takes to be that, boost of confidence for you all. And I think in our minds, we see officers as being so intimidating. You know?
Amy Jayne Hawkins:Oh, we don't have a $1,000,000 to give. But little do citizens understand, like, how much a note from a child means to an officer, how much a thank you, how much a so to your to your point, we're still growing. You know, we're open. If I had a $1,000,000,000 right now, there are a 100 different things I would do because I think there's I do my confidence is that the majority of America is pro law enforcement. They just don't know what to do.
Amy Jayne Hawkins:They're not confident yet in their voice. And they and and I do think that with organizations like ours, we can start to set the standard and start to, rock the boat just a little bit.
Betsy Smith:You make such an incredible point because we do, surveys. The National Police Association, we do polling. And our polling keeps telling us, most people love the police. Most people don't want us defunded. They worry about us.
Betsy Smith:They worry about our safety. Yep. They're they want more of us in their neighborhoods. And yet you're so right. People don't know what to do.
Betsy Smith:One of the things I when I'm giving talks, I always tell people is just wave at us. Smile and wave with all your fingers. You know? And, you know, if you're in a coffee shop, buy a cup of cup of coffee or or, you know, do it anonymously if you want to. Just go up and say thank you.
Betsy Smith:Teach your kids Yes. To do the same thing. That was when I was, still on the job, one of the best things that would happen on occasion is a a parent would bring a child up to me and say, oh, my little daughter or son just wanted to meet you and shake your hand. Oh my gosh. That good feeling would last a month.
Betsy Smith:And and that is such you know, so parents and grandparents, just teaching your kids to look a cop in the eye, smile at them, shake their hand. And little kids love cops. You know? That's why pop
Amy Jayne Hawkins:Oh, they do.
Betsy Smith:Exist. Right?
Amy Jayne Hawkins:And I think it also helps with recruitment. You know? I think that's I think we as a nation, where we where we have I love history, and I think where we've we've arrived as a nation is that we are almost at the, like so it's a very painful place we're at, right, where we can see now that, like, we actually have to fight for law enforcement in our local community. And to me, like, I'm a millennial, and I'm like, how is this even possible? Right?
Amy Jayne Hawkins:But I think with the the the I do believe that we serve a god of redemption. And what I think where we're at as a nation is we've kinda reached the end of we've we've reached the end of our way of doing things. Our way of doing things just is not working. So now is our chance to rebuild. And so I would even say humbly say to all of your listeners and watchers to say, we need to start living with the next 10 years in mind and with the next 20 years in mind.
Amy Jayne Hawkins:And so to those grandparents, taking your child out your grandchild out for breakfast and then saying, we're gonna stop by and see an officer and take them a cookie. You might make an imprint in them that will last for the next 30 years, and that little one is going to now have a positive reaction with an officer, and they need to hear from a parent and grandparent. Officers are to be trusted. If you see trouble, run to them, and those little seeds are going to mean huge impacts. But but I would even say to any of to me, Betsy, and to you, I'm sure as well, it's so easy to see the things to do.
Amy Jayne Hawkins:But I think, like, if I was one of your listeners saying, give me anything, I would say, go on your front porch. Look around your neighborhood. Do you have a police officer in your neighborhood? That's your first starting point. That becomes your team.
Amy Jayne Hawkins:You start praying over them. You start dropping them thank you notes. You start if if it's wintery, you're the person that's clearing their driveway. If, you know, you know that he's away on training and mom's home, you're taking a meal. Anonymous doesn't matter.
Amy Jayne Hawkins:That becomes your mission. If you're a clergy listening to this, you look around your church and say, do we have law enforcement? Though, that's your mission. Wherever you're at in a town, that police department, those are your officers. And so little things like a church taking one of the things that we've done is we'll get a local church, and we'll get a big roll of paper, and they will write a banner, thank you for your service, and they'll get church people to sign it.
Amy Jayne Hawkins:Deliver that to your police department. You've made their year that they can hang in in their break room and say, here are citizens that have our backs. You can get low if you're a business, contact your local officers and say, hey. This is who I am. I'm to be trusted.
Amy Jayne Hawkins:We would like to provide you a meal. Give us your favorite restaurant. We will bring it on a day that's convenient for you. If you're a council member or you're an elected official, how many of you have done a ride along? How many of you as a township member, as a state representative, have contacted a local police officer and said, I wanna do a ride along with you.
Amy Jayne Hawkins:Go see the threats they're encountering. Go see the dark houses they have to go up to. Get to know them. Get to know their story. I think any way that citizens can start to insert themselves in through, like, even just sitting there and saying, what does life look like through the eyes of an officer?
Amy Jayne Hawkins:And where can I show up? How many superintendents know that an officer would volunteer to come to their school to to teach the teenagers what to do if they get pulled over by a cop or a police officer. Here's what you do. You put your hands on the wheel. You say, hello, officer.
Amy Jayne Hawkins:You be cooperative. But I think there's so many of those scenarios that are everyday loving business leaders, influencers just don't even they haven't thought through yet, and those ideas are so easy.
Betsy Smith:And I do think that now in 2025, the tide is turning, don't you? Like, it's starting to get a little bit cool again to support law enforcement and to pay attention. You know, we have a long way to go, but
Amy Jayne Hawkins:Yes.
Betsy Smith:I think the timing is fantastic.
Amy Jayne Hawkins:Yes. I would agree with that. Although, I would push back respectfully and just encourage your listeners to say, I would encourage you to start to scrutinize the local level. Mhmm. And you need to go into, like, your local level, and you need to look your leaders in the eye.
Amy Jayne Hawkins:And you need to say, is safety and security a priority for our county? And if it's not, why? And if it's not, you need to look at replacing them. Because I think what a lot of citizens don't understand is that who controls the we all look at law enforcement. We can see, oh, the nice shiny car, nice uniform.
Amy Jayne Hawkins:Oh, look. It's a beautiful building. But they don't realize the shortage you guys are dealing with. The cars you can't replace. Like, our local sheriff, he was telling me they have a, an equestrian team.
Amy Jayne Hawkins:They have been using vests since, like, the eighties. And he's like, this is not acceptable. We have to get you new vests. And so but I don't that's that's where I would encourage citizens to say, you need to dig into your local officials. You need to build in a in a respectful way.
Amy Jayne Hawkins:Right? Like, get to know them, get to know their heart. For all we know, we're surrounded by elected officials that love law enforcement, and they may just not know what's going on in the inside of of the law enforcement world. And so somehow making it clear to those elected officials, listen. Our community want law enforcement to be number 1.
Amy Jayne Hawkins:We would rather money going to law enforcement than to a new park. So I think there's there's pieces like that that we need citizens to be aware that your local boards are making decisions on how big the sheriff department, on how big the city police budget is. And it's how much that money that they're approved that then they can use to, like, get all the resources they need. So that would be one I just I think it's something we need to be really cautious of right now.
Betsy Smith:And people need to understand that they they we, the voters, control all of that. We control who is our county board of supervisors, who is on our town council, who's the mayor, all of that. You know, who's the sheriff, in most in most areas of the country. We control that and we get all eaten up with, national politics when in reality, it's local politics that affects our day to day lives. And I I will say this as somebody involved in grassroots politics, and I think you will too, it's pretty fun to get involved in that stuff.
Amy Jayne Hawkins:It is. And doesn't it? It's such a perfect parallel to law enforcement because if you ask any if I I mean, I challenge any civilian listening to this. Ask an officer why they got involved in law enforcement. And it's 99% of the time, it's gonna be because I wanted to make a difference, because I care, because and as you start to get to know the local law enforcement, you will hear like, this is what takes my breath away too, is that law enforcement they're in law enforcement not because of the glory, not because they want their name on the front page.
Amy Jayne Hawkins:So I might want a positive story to put on social media, but they nobody they don't need anybody to know that they just went and paid for a homeless per a homeless woman to have a hotel for the night so she's not cold. They don't need anybody to know that. They took the money out of their own pocket because they care for the community, and that's where it comes back to. I think we've been so rightfully so captivated with what's going on in the national level, but we've missed that. The local really is the heartbeat, not only for the law enforcement, but also for the community.
Amy Jayne Hawkins:And I would use this example that, like, if you take let's take a school board. Right? And a school board says, well, here's a controversial topic. Nobody is this is what people need to understand. When when a school board, a village, anybody looks out in their audience and they see empty seats, they assume a couple things.
Amy Jayne Hawkins:They assume that they're doing a good job and nobody has complaints, and they assume they're doing a good job and nobody has complaints. So they're assuming then that they're doing a that they are doing right by the people. Well, if we as citizens are saying, actually, you're not. We need to show up. But here's where the local has power is that when you show up and you say, okay, board members, we understand you're considering a controversial issue, and we don't want you to pass it.
Amy Jayne Hawkins:When that local team says, okay. We're gonna shut this down. Guess what happens? Local areas are now gonna talk about that. Say, well, did you hear about that school board over there?
Amy Jayne Hawkins:They had a big backlash on this issue, and I don't think we should pursue it either. But when citizens don't show up and bad policies get adopted, like cutting back your school resource officers or cutting back on safety and security measures, that if it passes or it fails, that word spreads. And so now that becomes a standard. And so when you even have somebody that you elect a sheriff, highly possible, they may run for prosecutor. They may run for attorney general.
Amy Jayne Hawkins:If you don't like your sheriff, then don't let them win in that seat and unseat them because everything starts in the local. And I think that's where, I mean, truth be told, we really do this is one last caution I would challenge your listeners. Everybody needs to be paying attention to because we, as humans, we want convenience. We want comfort. We want safety.
Amy Jayne Hawkins:We want our we want our community to be to happy, peaceful. But what we need to be mindful of is that big government doesn't care. Big government wants to take on more power. And so what I'm very suspicious of is that in some people's mind, an idea will be to do away with your local law enforcement and get everything run so it's like state police. No slam to state police because there's good men and women there.
Amy Jayne Hawkins:But I'm saying as an organization, we all need to be mindful that we really do need our local officers because they know the community best. They can serve they they know the crazy aunt Myrtle, and they know the rebellious, you know, David over there. So they they can be a better judge of character when they know their community.
Betsy Smith:Well and American law enforcement is purposefully designed to be local. That is the that is that's why we're not like Europe or other countries. Local law enforcement is where it's at. That's constitutional. That's how the forefathers designed our system to be.
Betsy Smith:So that's why we are you're so right, as Americans need to really be paying attention to local law enforcement. So if people want to find out more about Police Week, Michigan, if they want to get involved, if they're Michiganders, and if they wanna follow you and find out more about you, where can they do that?
Amy Jayne Hawkins:So first of all and I would just everybody in America should be celebrating police week. May 15th is Peace Officer Memorial Day, the day to honor the men and women that fallen behind the line of duty. And then every that's every year. And then every year, the week surrounding that day is police week. So this year, it falls May 11th through 17th.
Amy Jayne Hawkins:So wherever your listeners are, that would be my first request is make sure they're doing something to honor law enforcement. People are welcome to use any of our ideas and resources. Copy on police weekmichigan.org. And then if there, if there's any way I can help, you can reach out through that website, please sweep Michigan dot org. And then my information, you can just go to substack.
Amy Jayne Hawkins:How to win as a conservative is my platform or Amy Jane Hawkins. And I just for anybody listening, whether it's, the men and women that have served and retired, whether it's the family members that have lost someone, whether it's someone who's contemplating entering this field, and even the active members. I just say on behalf of thousands of Americans, thank you. Thank you. Thank you for your service.
Amy Jayne Hawkins:Your sacrifice is not, it is not ignored. We see it, and please just pray for us as civilians that God will help us to have even greater courage to stand up and advocate for all of you because you truly are our heroes, and I can't thank you enough.
Betsy Smith:Well, Amy, we can't thank you enough for all you do for this, for this profession, not just locally, but nationally. And we're so grateful you had some time to spend with us today. And if you would like more information about the National Police Association, you can visit us at nationalpolice.org.
Narrator:Every day, the brave men and women of law enforcement put their lives on the line to keep us safe. But they need our help to continue their mission. Activist politicians, progressive prosecutors, the ACLU, and the rest of the anti police forces, receive millions of dollars in donations from extremist pro criminal elements, like George Soros and Woke Corporations. The National Police Association is fighting them in courts around the country, including the United States Supreme Court, defending officers who are being attacked for doing their jobs. Additionally, the National Police Association works year round to pass tough on crime legislation to put and keep criminals behind bars.
Narrator:Consider going to nationalpolice.org and donating to keep us in the fight. Together, we can win. That is nationalpolice.org.
