Det. Lt. Dave Adkins is currently the second longest serving member of the Chesterton Police Department.

And at the Police Commission’s meeting Wednesday evening, Police Chief Dave Cincoski honored Adkins with a plaque commemorating his quarter-century with the CPD.

“It doesn’t seem like that long,” Adkins said. “It really doesn’t.”

Member Alex Rodriguez, a retired agent with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, recalled talking with a mutual friend, who’s since passed, urging him 20 years ago to move to Chesterton.

“He said you’ve got to come to Chesterton,” Rodriguez remembered. “And of course the first thing a cop does is check out the local police department and there Dave (Adkins) was.”

“And you still stayed?” Cincoski joked.

“I still stayed,” Rodriguez replied. “Dave, you’re a good man. And a good cop.”

In other business, the commission took receipt of three letters from citizens expressing their gratitude to the department:

•From the Duneland Montessori Academy, thanking the CPD’s day-shift “for helping us make our first Chesterton Peace 5K Race a safe and successful event. Your assistance pre-race and with traffic during the race was fantastic.”

•From Yost Elementary School, thanking Sgt. Dan Rocha and his K-9 partner, Igor, for visiting the kids. “The students had a wonderful time and they absolutely LOVED meeting Igor! Sgt. Rocha did a great job with the students. He was friendly, appropriate, and sincere.” Noted Cincoski, “Igor’s our public relations dog.”

•And from a motorist whose car stalled on Tuesday on Ind. 49 near 1100N, thanking Cpl. Nick Brown, Officer Fernando Dominguez, and Officer Joe Kantowski for pushing the vehicle off the road and onto a shoulder. One of the officers than stayed with the motorist until a wrecker arrived at the scene.

President Craig Stafford—also known as Chesterton Middle School Principal Stafford—took a moment of his own at the end of the meeting to thank Rocha and Igor, as well as Officer Erik Herbert and Job, for their participation at CMS’s final Community Night this year.

Stafford also thanked Sgt. Randy Komisarcik—the CPD’s school resource officer—for donning an attack training suit and “taking a beating from the dogs.”

“I really want to thank them all for making the night a success,” Stafford said.

Meanwhile, Cincoski reported that background investigations have been completed on the top 14 applicants for the position of patrol officer, opened by last year’s retirement of Sgt. Fred Shivalec.

Sometime after Memorial Day, Cincoski said, voice stress analysis exams will be conducted on those 14 and then interviews with the commission scheduled for those candidates who pass.

In April the CPD responded to 1,303 calls (1,256 in March), filed 69 cases (51), filed 10 felony charges and 31 misdemeanor (five and 25), issued 78 citations and 99 warnings (88 and 159), and investigated 45 accidents with 13 injuries and one fatality (25 accidents with two injuries). Last month’s fatality was that of a Channahon, Ill., man who police said ran into traffic on Ind. 49 near Gateway Blvd. and was struck by two vehicles.

The CPD also assigned 35 juvenile cases in April and closed 31 of them (33 and 29 in March).

Calls for service last month included 41 alarms (36 in March), 21 animal complaints (12), nine reports of battery (one), five burglaries (three), one burning complaint (one), 20 disturbances (11), five domestic calls (10), one fireworks complaint (zero), seven reports of fraud (five), two missing persons (zero), 18 miscellaneous juvenile complaints (12), one motor vehicle theft (zero), eight noise complaints (nine), seven parking violations (four), six residence checks (14), three runaways (one), 52 suspicious circumstances (45), 26 suspicious persons (16), 23 suspicious vehicles (20), 42 thefts (17), 212 traffic stops (310), 10 incidents of vandalism (17), and three vehicle repossessions (five).

Posted 5/13/2011