Retired LAPD Detective joins Hopkins Co. Sheriff 's office

Detective Michael Chang of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) is now serving as a deputy for the Hopkins County Sheriff ’s Office. Chang came to Sulphur Springs on humble terms, although one could imagine his previous career in Los Angeles to be insurmountable. Not unlike the characters of “Dragnet” or “Major Crimes,” Chang has lived his life as a true detective and police officer for the LAPD for 23 years.

“You have to be in this job for the right reasons,” he said. Selfless service is what led Chang to law enforcement, although, law enforcement showed him another side of the coin. He stated wanting to help others, “when I got to L.A., I thought that would happen all of the time, and within a couple of years, I met maybe only two righteous victims of a crime.” According to Chang, the victims are often involved in drugs or prostitution, keeping themselves victims to crimes they are inevitably tied to.

After joining a federal task force, Chang began to realize the difference between helping people and protecting people, “I realized I’m really putting a knucklehead in jail who deserves it — regardless of his victim — he needs to go to jail.” This is when Chang realized he loved his job.

“I have a niche for it. I learned what worked and didn’t work,” he mentioned. As of Saturday, Aug. 13, Chang started his 10th day on the job at the Hopkins County Sheriff ’s Office. “I thought I had a lot of things to bring to these guys, but I see that they’re actually doing a lot of good stuff already, which is pretty impressive,” he said, “I do know that I’m on two different sheets of music — how I was trained and how I would do stuff as opposed to what they do here — I’m just the new guy.”

When he was younger, he started out as a bag boy at a grocery store. He began catching bad guys for fun, mostly shoplifters. Following, Chang started his journey as a student in Fire Science with the desire to become a fire fighter, but he found himself patrolling the streets of Los Angeles as an officer soon after.

Hired onto the LAPD in 1999 as a cadet, he was put through the wringer in the police academy for seven months. “Upon graduation, I got wheeled to the 77th Division in South Central L.A.,” he stated.

His division handled the Reginald Denny assault — a truck driver who was beaten at the intersection of Florence and Normandy, right after the OJ Simpson trial during the 1992 Los Angeles riots. Chang’s division caught Damian “Football” Williams, the major suspect for the assault case. Williams attended Crenshaw High School where a lot of gang members got their start back then. Now Williams is a revolving door suspect and a gangster, according to Chang.

In Los Angeles, most gang members get involved in gang life through the unsuspecting pipeline of high school football. Often tied to rivalries, the sport of football fuels gang involvement at a young age — 16 to 18 years old. According to Chang, it becomes a statement of “my block is better than your block.” Back then, Crenshaw and Dorsey High School bred many young and impressionable gang members. “Once they go deep into gangs, they’re no longer finishing school,” he said. An unlikely problem in Hopkins County, it is an aspect of teen life in Los Angeles that is completely surprising.

The youngest gang member he recalled was 11 years old. “He was born and raised in the neighborhood — often times, there is a void; abuse, a parent lacking. Something is missing,” he said, “the gang promises you they’ll give you what you want, but you have to do X, Y and Z.” The 11 yearold boy was selling drugs for a gang to help out his mother.

When Chang joined the federal task force with his division, he started monitoring the 18th Street and Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gangs. The 18th Street gang is one of the largest transnational criminal organizations in Los Angeles and MS -13 is an international gang with its history in the United States - El Salvador relations.

“MS and 18th started in the Rampart Division where I used to work — those guys never leave, they always go back — even after incarceration,” Chang mentioned. “It’s interesting to me what they’re willing to sacrifice for a street corner — their parents, their family members,” he said.

Presuming he had gotten his scars from the machetes of the MS-13 gang, the unique scars on his forehead and nose come from something even more notorious — COVID-19. The virus has been known to cause loss of circulation in extremities of the body, and for Chang, he lost circulation in the tip of his nose. To date, he has had six reconstructive surgeries following his battle with COVID-19. Chang was admitted to the Providence Saint John Health Center in Santa Monica in 2020 while in extreme critical condition.

Luckily for Chang, he was put under a clinical trial which benefitted him greatly. He was assisted by an artificial lung, receiving treatment called Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO), which pumped oxygen into his body while his heart and lungs were given the opportunity to rest. Chang was also assisted by an anti-inflammatory drug called Sarilumab, which inhibits the virus from inflaming the lungs and other organs. Upon his release from the hospital, Chang was met with city-wide media coverage by ABC and CBS Los Angeles, as doctors, nurses, family, friends and a large part of his division showed up to rally their support for his recovery. It is safe to say the alternative treatments saved his life.

After his recovery, Chang retired on July 15, but it was not because of his illness. Chang stated the political climate began to change back home with the state, city and his department, leaving him little reason to stay.

“The word narrative they keep talking about on the news — I had to make my narrative work for me,” he stated.

Making the decision to leave, he was not ready to retire from his life’s work, so he swore back in almost immediately on July 18. Chang and his wife bought a vacation home near Cumby in 2020 while living in Huntington Beach, California. After visiting, he started researching Hopkins County law enforcement just to get familiar. After meeting Sheriff Lewis Tatum, he decided to join the Hopkins County Sheriff ’s Office as a deputy — moving into his vacation home full time while working and visiting his wife back at home in California when he can.

Without a partner at home or on the job, Chang is facing new challenges, but he is driven by overcoming obstacles no matter what. “I like to be successful — I don’t like the status quo,” he stated, “if there is more stuff I can learn, I’m going to learn it.”

“I took a huge pay cut to continue doing what I love to do — at the end of the day, you save lives,” he said, “it’s not for everybody — you have to be very flexible, very patient and you have to deal with whatever’s thrown in front of you whether you like it or not.”

Chang stated, “I’m in a car for 12 hours and you’re gonna get 12 hours of the best of me.” He added, “just because there might be a robbery, and I’m dealing with a livestock issue, doesn’t mean I’m gonna blow that off just because I have to go deal with this. Every situation requires my full attention.”

No matter what the situation, Deputy Chang believes in the value of law enforcement, “you need law enforcement — if you don’t have law enforcement, stand by what’s coming.”