of diversity within the AAPD, 
the department has responded 
by seeking to recruit a wider 
pool of candidates through 
extending 
their 
recruiting 

radius. 
Sergeant 
Jaime 

Crawford from the recruiting 
and hiring unit of the AAPD 
explained the department is 
actively looking for candidates 
from all over Michigan.

“We 
are 
really 
trying 

to 
broaden 
where 
we 
are 

recruiting from and the type 
of events we are attending,” 
Crawford said. “In the past, it 
was easier to recruit inasmuch 
as we didn’t have to do much 
because people were seeking 
out law enforcement as a career, 
and now that has changed so we 
are really trying to attend events 

at universities and we are going 
into more urban areas.”

Crawford said AAPD has 

begun 
recruiting 
at 
many 

colleges throughout the state, 
attending career fairs at the 
University of Detroit Mercy, 
Wayne State University, Ferris 
State 
University, 
Michigan 

State 
University 
and 
Mott 

Community College. Recruiters 
like Crawford seek to identify 
good candidates — even those 
who might not be ready to 
apply for several years — in 
order to develop awareness of 
opportunities within AAPD.

“We want to expose them 

to what the Ann Arbor Police 
Department 
is 
all 
about,” 

Crawford said. “We are highly 
regarded within the state and 
among other police departments 
so we really want to pull them 
in early and let them know what 
we have to offer.”

Part of how AAPD goes 

about recruiting is through 
maintaining diversity within 
the recruiting staff.

“We try to have diversity in 

our recruiters,” Crawford said. 
“Just so that the representatives 
we have from the Ann Arbor 
Police 
Department 
are 

approachable and can answer 
any questions or concerns that 
potential 
candidates 
might 

have. As a female, I get a lot of 
questions from females that are 
curious to know what it’s like in 
this field.”

Crawford went on to explain 

that while it is obviously a 
male-dominated environment, 
she has been afforded every 
opportunity.

“My experience with Ann 

Arbor has been phenomenal,” 
Crawford said.

Alongside pursuing potential 

candidates 
at 
universities, 

AAPD has also initiated a 
sponsorship 
program 
as 

another mode of promoting 
diversity. The program allows 
the city to assume the cost of 
the candidate attending the 
academy with the promise 
that when they graduate, they 
become an officer in AAPD. 
This 
has 
been 
helpful 
as 

Crawford said the academy 
itself can be a roadblock for 
potential candidates. It can be 
difficult for some to attend the 
academy due to the cost, which 
is about $7,000, combined with 
the fact students in the academy 
don’t have time to work during 
the training process.

Scherba cited two recent 

instances where the sponsor 
program 
has 
helped 
bring 

diversity into the force

“In our most recent process 

we identified one non-white 
male we intend to sponsor,” 
Scherba said. “Our most recent 
hire group included a female 
who we sponsored.”

While the change in numbers 

from 2014 to 2016 appeared 
bleak 
for 
the 
department, 

hiring solely white officers 

during that period. Crawford 
said diversity has since picked 
up in the hiring process.

“We just hired one brand 

new officer, non-white male, 
and we have another that is 
in the process right now,” 
Crawford said. “We just hired 
another female as well.”

The resurgence in diversity 

in the hiring process is timely 
considering the AAPD seems 
to be losing diversity through 
the 
retirement 
of 
several 

members. However, Scherba 
says the process of creating 
more 
diversity 
within 
the 

department is a gradual process 
with long-term effects.

“We are kind of in the more 

beginning 
stages 
of 
really 

starting to see the fruits of our 
effort,” Scherba said. “We are 
finally beginning to see some 
positive results. Getting more 
candidates is increasing our 
applicant pool so it’s only going 
to result in a better department 
for our community.”

The AAPD is in a state of 

transition, due to the transfer 
of AAPD Police Chief Jim 
Baird, 
who 
is 
relocating 

to 
Breckenridge, 
Colo. 

Meanwhile, the city is still in 
the process of determining his 
successor. While some may 
question how the transition 
between police chiefs may 
affect the AAPD’s momentum 
in pursuing diversity within the 
force, the City Administrator 
Howard Lazarus said they will 
undoubtedly select a chief who 
will be supportive of this goal.

“As we recruit a new police 

chief, we will recruit someone 
who reflects the values of Ann 
Arbor and city government,” 
Lazarus said. “We are an 
inclusive society that meets in 
an inclusive community, and 
we try to reflect that in all of 
our commissions. So whoever 
we recruit as the police chief 
will reflect those values.”

On the surface, it would appear 

rapper Iggy Azalea and Danny 
Sheridan, University of Michigan 
Business senior, don’t have a 
lot in common. Azalea grew up 
on Azalea Street in Australia. 
Sheridan grew up on Woodside 
Lane in Ohio. However, both 
Azalea and Sheridan have shaped 
a brand around their hometown 
street name.

Sheridan founded Woodside 

Distributors as a high school 
freshman. Like any successful 
entrepreneur, 
Sheridan 
began 

his business in his childhood 
bedroom. He saw an opportunity 
within the video game market for 
Xbox Live, a gaming membership 
sold as a gift card which allows 
virtual gameplay between friends. 

Just like the popular Webkinz 

World membership of the early 
2000s, XBox Live memberships 
became highly coveted. Sheridan 
capitalized 
on 
this 
demand 

and developed a pricing model 
that allowed him to resell the 
memberships for profit.

The early days of Woodside 

Distributors 
resemble 
the 

narrative 
of 
an 
archetype 

technology icon. Sheridan quit 
lacrosse and football to focus his 
efforts on expanding his business. 
He spent his free time modeling 
profits with Microsoft Excel 
spreadsheets 
and 
contacting 

suppliers. 
He 
even 
recruited 

“the smartest kid in AP Physics,” 
University alum Alex Glassman, 
to lend expertise in data analytics. 
Instead of venture capitalists, 
his investors were bar mitzvah 
guests.

“So I decided to use $6,000 of 

my bar mitzvah money, which 
was actually my funding source,” 
Sheridan told Click on Detroit. “I 
am glad that my parents didn’t say 
no because at the time I wasn’t in 
control of the funds. They actually 
transferred all of it over and said, 
‘It’s your life,’ which was nice to a 
freshman in high school. I really 
appreciated it.”

By his senior year of high 

school, Woodside Distributors 
revenue reached the $2 million 
milestone. One can only wonder 
what his Common Application 
essay was about.

When Sheridan left Woodside 

Lane, 
he 
took 
Woodside 

Distributors with him. Sheridan 
and Glassman headed for Ann 
Arbor with big goals for the 
company. Over the course of their 
four years at the University, they 
have recruited classmates, spent 
a summer working in a rented 

Business School classroom with a 
team of 12 students, expanded to 
sell over 200 products and topped 
$3.5 million in revenue.

Perhaps most surprising is 

how the nimble architecture 
of 
Woodside 
Distributors 

has allowed for Sheridan and 
Glassman to not sacrifice the 
typical college experience.

“We get to sit behind a 

computer, paying no full-time 
salaries, paying no rent,” Sheridan 
said. “Right now, it’s making 
money and I’m putting in about 
seven to 10 hours a week. The 
ideas are based off a four-hour 
workweek.”

After graduating from the 

Business School in May, Sheridan 
will not be returning to Woodside 
Lane. Rather, he is headed to 
Seattle, where he has accepted 
a job offer from Amazon as a 
product manager.

Frank Lee
Daily Staff Reporter
Prosecutor prepares to take se-

rial rape case to trial 

For the past 2 1/2 years, Ann 

Arbor citizens have had to live 
with the fear of possibly becoming 
the next victim of a serial rapist - a 
criminal who brutally beats his vic-
tims into unconsciousness and then 
rapes them. The viciousness of his 
attacks left one woman dead and 
four others emotionally scarred.

Then on Christmas Day, an alert 

cab driver gave Ann Arbor police 
a gift in the form of a tip that led 
to the arrest of a suspect. Ervin 
Dewain Mitchell Jr., 33, now stands 
accused of being the serial rapist. 
If he is convicted, many concerned 
members of the community will 
finally have peace of mind.

Before the arrest, the Ann Arbor 

police, who questioned nearly 800 
possible suspects, seemed power-
less to stem the series of sexual 
assaults occurring on the city’s 
west side.

Mitchell was already in police 

custody at the Washtenaw County 
Jail on $50,000 bond awaiting an 

April 3 trial before Judge Don-
ald Shelton for an assault and 
attempted Christmas Eve purse- 
snatching of a 34- year-old Ann Ar-
bor woman. If convicted on those 
charges, he faces up to 15 years in 
prison. He was denied bond last 
week when he was charged with 
four counts of first-degree criminal 
sexual conduct and one count of 
first-degree murder.

“First-degree murder in Michi-

gan carries a mandatory sentence 
of life in prison without parole,” 
said Washtenaw County Prosecu-
tor Brian Mackie, the attorney 
handling both of Mitchell’s trials. 
“Criminal sexual conduct in the 
first degree carries any term of 
years - up to life.”

Mitchell remained unemotional 

as he pleaded not guilty before 14-A 
District Court Magistrate George 
Parker. The arraignment came after 
months of public speculation and 
one of the most intensive manhunts 
in the police department’s history.

Before the arraignment, while 

his client sat in jail unable to meet 
his bond, Washtenaw County As-
sistant Public Defender Lankford 

accused the prosecution of stalling 
and not being able to meet their 
burden of proof.

“If the evidence the prosecution 

has is that good, why haven’t they 
charged him?” Lankford asked. “If 
you can’t charge him, you definitely

can’t convict him.”
It was less than three months 

ago that police arrested Mitchell 
for allegedly punching a 34-year-
old Ann Arbor woman in the 1800 
block of Dexter Avenue and at-
tempting to take her purse.

Amid the glare of TV camera 

lights and a swarm of reporters, 
Mitchell smiled at his arraignment 
Dec. 27 on those charges before 
14-A District Court Magistrate A. 
Thomas Truesdell. “You all are 
going to be seeing a lot of me,” 
Mitchell said as he was escorted 
back to his jail cell in handcuffs and 
leg shackles.

Mitchell’s words were prophetic 

indeed. 

2A — Wednesday, March 14, 2018
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WEDNESDAY:

This Week in History 

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IT’S HUMP DAYYY puzzle by sudokusyndication.com

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THIS WEEK IN HISTORY: PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF 
MICHIGAN VS. ERVIN DEWAIN MITCHELL JR.. 

Read more at 
MichiganDaily.com

SHANNON ORS
Daily Staff Reporter

ON THE DAILY: CEO OF WOODSIDE HEADED TO AMAZON 

DIVERSITY
From Page 1A

