For The Love Of Community

“My Christ told me to love my neighbor. He commanded me to love my neighbor. He didn’t say to love my neighbor who looks like me, thinks like me, worships like me, votes like me. He commanded me to love my neighbor. So everything I do with the police department, everything I do with this community….. I’m going to approach it from the position of love because if I do that, I can’t be wrong.”

That is the leadership philosophy of the new Mt Juliet Chief of Police, Michael Mullins.

That’s probably reminiscent of his predecessor, James Hambrick, who always said that he loves you and there’s nothing you can do about it. Mullins has considered Hambrick a mentor since he started as a dispatcher with the MJPD over 26 years ago. He’s been modeling himself after him and served as his Deputy Chief for the last ten years. James and Mike made a deal to retire together. Mullins had never planned to become the Chief. Life had other plans.

“We had a deal, then a little over a year ago, James came to me and said, “Hey, Mike, I think I’m going to have to break our deal,” I said, “No, you’re not.” He goes, “Yeah, I’m being called to another location and Ms. Denise wants me to retire.” And I said, “Well, who matters more, me or Denise?” And I lost that. Really for the last eleven years, I had no intentions of ever being chief but here I am,” says Mullins.

With Deputy Chief Tyler Chandler by his side, they have a solid plan in place to continue to build on the platform that Hambrick made for them.

Mullins said that the Mt Juliet Police Department that Hambrick inherited a decade ago is nothing like the MJPD of today. The community did not accept and support the department. Their reputation and culture were different. “I’ve been tied to him the whole way through and have seen the things he did. I was with him during this culture change and I was with him as he built what we are today.”

He knows the process and is not going to let it backslide. They do plan to make some improvements in a few areas, such as a wellness plan to make things better for the officers, both personally and professionally. The goal is to lower stress and aim to live healthier. They will also be improving the officer training at the department. Mullins says they do a good job training them in their current positions, but he wants to see better training to get the officers ready for their next step instead of training them after they are promoted. He adds that his job as Chief is to guide that vision and get Deputy Chief Chandler ready to inherit the Chief position when the time comes.

Mullins is all about getting to know the folks in the community. Whether it’s over a cup of coffee at Coffee With A Cop or a casual chat during “Chief on the Beat” events, he’s there, ready to listen and engage. The Department also hosted a ‘Pack The Police Cruiser’ food drive for the Mt Juliet Help Center. These are just a few of the many things that they do for community engagement. The door is usually (9 am to 8 pm) open if someone wants to stop into the station for a chat.

Mullin’s philosophy is to lead with love, and, as they say about charity, it starts at home. Mike and Tina will celebrate their 25th Anniversary in May and have been together for over 26 years. They have a daughter and two dogs. He says they’ve had two dogs consistently throughout their marriage.

As a native of Lebanon, TN, Mullins did not hold Mt. Juliet in a very positive light…. You know, sports rivals and all that. So how did Mike Mullins come to be over the MJPD?

It was a dollar more an hour than he was making at the time.

Chief Mullins recalls growing up in a poor family and aspiring to break free from that cycle. Despite initially considering the military, he pursued higher education, becoming the first in his family to do so. He started his major in accounting because he liked math, but that only lasted long enough to not want to lose the credits he’d already earned. Mullins reached out to his advisor and asked what major would use his current credits. Criminal Justice was suggested and he changed majors.

“I worked as a security guard at Castner Knott and I was studying for a test. One of the ladies who worked there asked if I had ever thought about working for the Mt Juliet Police Department and, since I grew up in Lebanon, I didn’t think very fondly of Mt Juliet. She said that they make a dollar more an hour than you are making now. I said Sign Me Up,” said Mullins. “That’s how I ended up in Mt Juliet. I started as a dispatcher because it made a dollar more an hour. I found out that it was something I was good at and enjoyed doing. The City of Mt Juliet grew on me and here I am, 26 years later.”

Oh, what a dollar could get you in 1997…..

Watch the full interview on our YouTube channel or in our app.