1964 ALBION POLICE DEPARTMENT - Historical Albion Michigan

With all of the “budget news” regarding our Albion Public Safety Department being discussed in recent weeks, people remember when the Albion Fire and the Albion Police were separate Departments in City Hall. One was located on the west end, the other on the east end, and the city administration was in the middle. The budgeting process was much less complicated back then as opposed to what it is today.

It was around 1964 that the Albion Police Department force posed for a group photograph on the steps of City Hall. At that time the police chief was the late Ray Sovjak (1918-2003) who served in that position from 1961 to 1965. His son Ron of Jackson wanted to share this photo of his father with us in our Historical Notebook this week. How many people in this photo do you remember?

Front row, left to right: Carl West, Rolland Kissinger, Dick Williamson, Henry Faulk. Center row: Carl Hatch (detective), Albert Williamson, Jim Keyes; Police Chief Raymond Sovjak, John O’Connor, Evelyn Yinger, Charles Young (detective), and J. Leslie Engstrom (police commissioner). Top row: Henry Dixon, Richard Tate, Jr., Wendell Cornell, Larry Bearman, Lee Norris, and Charles Cornell.

	Frank Passic — Albion Historian An Albion native and 1971 graduate of Albion High School, Frank Passic has been researching and writing Albion history since 1976. He is the creator of the Albion Historical Notebook, with hundreds of articles appearing weekly in the Morning Star and The Recorder. Frank maintains an extensive personal archive including Riverside Cemetery records, family surname files, genealogies, photographs, city directories, and high school yearbooks. Support his 2026 research at the Historic Albion Michigan Facebook page. Historical Notebook \| From the Archives \| Subject List \| 100 Years Ago \| Alphabetical Index \| Frank Passic Home Page \| Albion History Books \| Contact Frank
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