City Leaders Reflect on Passing of Former Plymouth Police Chief
“A true servant leader” and “one in a million.”
That’s how Plymouth’s former longtime police chief and public safety director is being remembered.
Mike Goldstein died unexpectedly on Tuesday at the age of 58. His cause of death wasn’t revealed, but it was attributed to a medical incident.
On Thursday, local leaders reflected on what Goldstein meant to the city.
“He really shaped the way that our community viewed policing,” said former Plymouth Mayor Kelli Slavik. “He was always very fair, very professional, listened to people. He often said to me, ‘we see people on their worst days, experiencing terrible things in their lives. And if you can treat them with compassion and kindness and just listen to them and be open to what they have to say.’”
Former Plymouth Mayor Kelli Slavik served with Mike Goldstein from 1999 to 2019.
Slavik served with Goldstein for 20 years.
Goldstein began his career in law enforcement with Plymouth in 1990. He served as chief and public safety director from 2004 until he retired in 2021.
His impact on law enforcement was felt well beyond the Plymouth Police Department.
“I first heard Chief Goldstein speak at a leadership conference before I was a supervisor in law enforcement and remember immediately resonating with his style,” said Crystal Deputy Police Chief Brian Hubbard. “[I] would consider him probably one of my gold standards on what I’ve strived to be as a leader in law enforcement. I mean, he was every bit of what everybody knew him to be in terms of being a mentor, in terms of being engaged, in terms of caring about people. So it’s a bigger loss for the profession than most because of that impact he had individually on so many of us.”
