Howell still working in the weeds
Before getting into law enforcement, Michelle Howell worked for her father’s landscaping company.
Today, as the leader of the Laurel Police Department’s Narcotics Division, she’s still pulling weed — and plenty of other undesirables that crop up in the local landscape — in an effort to create growth in the best parts of the community.
Because of her work with the LPD, Sgt. Michelle Howell has been selected as the 2023 Law Enforcement Officer of the Year, an award presented by the Leader-Call and Hellfighters USA as part of their annual “Back The Blue” campaign.
This year, Howell and other LPD narcotics agents have helped pull 1,632 grams of methamphetamine, 300 doses of MDMA (ecstasy), 300 grams of cocaine, 78 grams of crack, 20 grams of fentanyl and 5 pounds of marijuana out of The City Beautiful.
But the numbers don’t tell the whole story about her contributions to the community, and those amounts alone don’t display the potential damage that was avoided because of their removal from the landscape.
“I love to get dope off the street because it affects families in such a negative way,” Howell said.
That’s something the single mother of a teen son has seen far too much of in her dozen-plus years on the job, and it continues to motivate her now just as much as it did when she was first sworn in as a deputy for the Jones County Sheriff’s Department.
Howell grew up in Collins and always wanted to work in law enforcement, she said.
“And my daddy was hellbent that I would not,” she added, laughing. He wanted her to continue working for his nursery/landscaping business, where the most ominous threats were bees and poison ivy.
But the law enforcement bug stayed under her skin, and she got a chance to scratch it after talking to then-Sheriff Alex Hodge at the South Mississippi Fair back in 2010. She was there working the mechanical bull she owns, Mr. Twister, and she told Hodge how she couldn’t buck the urge to wear the badge.
“He got me started, working at the jail in corrections,” Howell said.
From there, she went on to the Mississippi Law Enforcement Officers Training Academy in Pearl and became a patrol deputy at the JCSD, and went on to work as a K9 officer and for the Crime Suppression Unit, continuing to get specialized training as she advanced. She joined the LPD in 2017 and worked in patrol and investigations divisions before landing in the narcotics unit. That’s where she’s found her true calling, she said.
“I just really love working narcotics,” Howell said. “I’ve found what I enjoy, and I just want to keep on doing it.”
Seizing the drugs and arresting the suspects are just the first steps of the process, though. It’s being able to make the case solid, then providing testimony in court hearings and trials that seals the fate of defendants. Howell has been exceptional at those things, District Attorney Brad Thompson said.
“She’s done great,” he said. “Her files are in order and she submits good cases, and when she testifies, she is just outstanding. Textbook.”
Thompson said Howell made “connections” that helped track down then-murder suspect Latina Oates in New Orleans after she killed her 11-year-old son Joshua in a Laurel hotel room in March 2020, when the well-being of her two younger sons was still unknown and a nationwide search for the Ohio woman was still under way.
But it was Howell’s heated interview with the suspect that was shown to the jury, followed by her testimony, that helped get Oates found guilty of capital murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole.
In a complicated case that had some conflicting conclusions by mental-health experts, Howell’s brief interrogation was credited for exposing Oates as someone who could get angry enough to kill her own son, not someone who was claiming insanity because she was having visions of him as a demon.
“Her testimony was integral to getting that conviction,” Thompson said.
As soon as Howell started questioning her, Oates said, “You make me feel uncomfortable ... acting aggressive.”
But Howell just turned up the heat a notch when Oates started talking about religious reasons for killing her son, reminding her that she carried Josh in her womb for nine months and raised him for 11 years before killing him. Howell then gave graphic details and told Oates, “He died a horrific death. Moms don’t do that. Moms are supposed to be willing to die for their children.”
That’s when Oates asked for a lawyer. During the trial in September, Howell held up under intense questioning from the defense attorney, too, defending her approach and line of questioning. When he cited his client’s reference to God, Howell shot back, “My opinion of my God is very different from that.”
Being the “bad cop” to go at Oates after she confessed to pushing a metal rod into the young boy’s skull wasn’t an act, said Howell, who was working in the LPD’s Criminal Investigations Division at the time.
“That’s one of the hardest cases ever,” she said. “I had a son who was about that same age at the time, so it was emotional. I just couldn’t imagine anyone doing such a thing ... I just wasn’t going to go with her version of what happened, and she didn’t like it.”
Howell was promoted to sergeant this year and her fellow officers selected her as the department’s Officer of the Year, too.
“It’s an honor to be selected by your peers,” LPD Chief Tommy Cox said. “She does a great job in narcotics, of course, but she never fails to jump in whenever and wherever she’s needed — investigations, patrol, special details speaking to children ...
“She does a good job, and she’s a good example that, if you stick with it and work hard, good things will happen.”
Howell is the first woman to be selected as the top cop at LPD in Cox’s 26 years there, and she is the first woman and LPD member selected for the Leader-Call/Hellfighters award.
“We appreciate all you do,” Gina Headrick of Hellfighters said during the presentation, then gave Howell a big hug. “It’s an honor to join with the Leader-Call to recognize the officer of the year.”
The Armory inside Hellfighters USA presented Howell with a Smith & Wesson M&P 9mm and extra magazines inside a personalized Smith & Wesson “Go Pack.”
“I’m shocked,” Howell said, thanking award and gift-givers. “I don’t know what to say ... except I really love my job.”
Leader-Call Owner/Publisher Jim Cegielski presented her with a crystal award to commemorate all of the crystal meth-providers and other criminals she has helped take out of the community.
“People in law enforcement are being vilified across the country,” he said, “but we want to make sure that these men and women who are willing to do the job know that their work and sacrifices are appreciated in this community.”
Headrick also talked about the dangers of the job and expressed appreciation for the willingness of local law enforcement officials to put themselves between dangerous criminals and complete strangers in the community before leading a prayer for their protection.
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