Decorated Grosse Pointe Shores officer promoted to sergeant

GROSSE POINTE SHORES — He already won the Grosse Pointe Shores Public Safety Department’s highest honor, the director’s award — aka Officer of the Year — in 2022, so it seems only fitting that officer Jeff Roybal has now moved up the ranks.

Roybal, who joined the department on Dec. 12, 2019, was recently promoted to sergeant. He was sworn in by Mayor Ted Kedzierski during a Jan. 20 Shores City Council meeting, where his wife, Danielle Roybal, pinned his new badge on his uniform.

Public Safety Director Kenneth Werenski said Roybal brings “a ton of EMS experience” to the department.

“In the short six years he’s been here, he’s accomplished a lot,” Werenski said.

A local native who resides in Grosse Pointe Woods, Roybal graduated from Grosse Pointe North High School. Roybal, who studied at Macomb Community College and Ferris State University, is a veteran who spent about eight to nine years in the military. He served as an engineer for the United States Army in Operation Iraqi Freedom, where he spent time in combat for nearly two years. He worked as a paramedic for the Detroit Fire Department from 2014 to 2019 before he came to the Shores.

Danielle Roybal said her husband has “given this (job) his all.”

“He is definitely a man who’s cut from the cloth of helping others,” she said. “He takes a lot of pride in public service and keeping the community safe. He’s got a good heart.”

One of the ways that’s evident is that Roybal volunteered for the Grosse Pointe/Harper Woods Crisis Intervention Team. CIT team members are called upon to respond to incidents in the six communities involving someone with a mental health condition so that the person can be evaluated and receive appropriate care.

“You have to do a lot of training. … You have to have a lot of patience,” Werenski said of being a CIT member.

Roybal also serves as a field training officer, is a member of the Special Response Team (similar to a SWAT team) and manages the Shores’ motor division, which includes overseeing the department’s motor pool and its maintenance, among other duties. Werenski said Roybal is the department’s motorcycle officer as well and often leads the Grosse Pointe Santa Claus Parade.

In addition, Werenski said Roybal has been “a mentor to the new officers.”

“He’s taken on some big responsibilities over the last six years,” Werenski said. “He’s a big part of our department.”

Roybal and his wife are the parents of two daughters. Roybal’s parents, wife, daughter and several fellow officers were among those on hand to see him sworn in.

“Jeff is a really good person,” Werenski said. “We’re really lucky to have him.”