These were truly hard times for the people of West Bloomfield Township. As F. S. Strong, Jr., recalled, “I still don’t see how we managed, but those were the days when in desperation all sorts of problems had to be solved, not just in a few unfortunate places, but all over the country.” The growing number of the poor or indigent within the community contributed to other problems, like crime, and the township board hired the first full-time police officer in April 1933. (The township’s part-time police department was established in the 1920s.) Township records indicate that Loyal Wertz was paid a $1,600 annual salary for his protective services and that he agreed to maintain his own equipment necessary to the position at no charge to the township. By April 1939, the township would need to hire two additional police officers, contracting to pay them at the hourly rate of one dollar. The West Bloomfield Police Department in the 1990s employed 62 full-time officers in addition to a cadet force, and three handicapped parking enforcement officers who oversaw an enforcement team averaging six to ten volunteers. The department operated, at this time, on a $5.9 million annual budget and answered an average of 22,000 calls in a year.