President’s Message

Welcome to the Prosecuting Attorneys Association of Michigan website.  You’ll find information here about our activities around Michigan, postings for careers and internships, details about PAAM’s training units, and calendars for upcoming events. 

Our association has a tradition of public service.  We are in fact “public servants.” Service and justice are at the core of what we do. Clearly, one of our main responsibilities, and what many people think is our only role, is to prosecute people who have broken the law.  There is a perception that we exist solely to send people to jail and to prison.  While that is part of our job; we do have to prosecute violent or repeat offenders who have demonstrated behavior that requires them to be removed from society for a period of time, or perhaps even the rest of their lives, because of their criminal actions. If we do so, we do it to protect our community.  This element of our work is the most visible part of our job, however it is not our only role.  For prosecutors, and the people that work in our offices, our goal, every day, is to serve our communities and work to make them better places in a variety of different ways.

Across Michigan, prosecutors are in our schools, talking to young people about sexting and online predators.  We’re in senior centers, providing information on how our older neighbors can avoid scams.  Improving our communities may mean that a veteran, who served our county in Afghanistan and now suffers from PTSD isn’t sent to prison, but instead completes a veterans’ treatment court program to become a productive member of society once again.  The same could be true for someone who goes through a drug or mental health court. Education and crime prevention are part of what we do.

You will find prosecutors at vigils supporting crime victims and engaging our neighbors during National Night Out.  We are in our communities in other ways, too, whether it is volunteering at Special Olympics, participating in local clean-ups, getting kids ready for school with backpack giveaways, or passing out candy at trunk-or-treats.  Volunteering in our community is part of what we do.

Contact information for your local county prosecutor is available through the Prosecutor Directory.  But you will also see us; perhaps officiating the high school football or soccer game, helping out at the local food pantry, staffing a table and answering questions at the farmer’s market, or leading a community walk to support our neighbors who have been victims of crime.  Whether in the court room or in the community, members of PAAM have upheld our tradition of public service for almost 100 years, and our commitment continues today.

Chris Becker

President