Chesterton Tribune

 

 

'Resist' sign at Broadway and Third Street is privately owned

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By KEVIN NEVERS

The monument sign currently reading Resist at the southwest corner of Broadway and Third Street is under private ownership, is not located on public property, and is not sponsored or endorsed by the Town of Chesterton.

Neither does it violate Town Code.

So Police Chief Dave Cincoski noted at last week’s meeting of the Police Commission.

“I’ve received a tremendous number of calls about the sign,” Cincoski told the Chesterton Tribune. “But it’s not a town-owned sign. it does not violate any town ordinances, and unless it’s profane, it is constitutionally protected speech. Whatever its meaning.”

The Resist sign could conceivably refer to the Resist Movement which emerged following the election of Donald Trump to the presidency.

For many months, the monument sign read: Support Your Police Officers, #AllLivesMatter, on a blue background with a composite Chesterton/Porter police badge. That sign still faces the inside of the property but is covered on the street side by the Resist sign.

According to GIS records maintained by Porter County--available at porterin.mygisonline.com--the property in question, the strip mall at 303-15 Broadway, is owned by 309 Broadway LLC, with a listed address for the LLC in the Estates of Sand Creek.

New Hires

In other business, Cincoski reported that Probationary Officer Erik Krivak--whose first day on the job was July 10--began coursework at the Northwest Indiana Law Enforcement Academy (NILEA) on Aug. 10. “He’s doing well,” Cincoski said. “He’s passed all his physical requirements and I understand that he’s very alert and attentive in class.”

Krivak is scheduled to graduate NILEA on Nov. 17 and will then begin his 13-week field training at the CPD.

Probationary Officers Kaitlin Bruning and Alexias DeJesus, for their part--whose first day on the job was May 15--are currently in the fourth week of the second phase of their own field training, and are now doing 50 to 60 percent of routine patrol work, under the supervision of their field training officers (FTOs). In the third four-week phase, Bruning and DeJesus will do 95 percent of the work, followed by “ghost week,” at which time they’ll do all patrol work, except in the case of an emergency.

Cincoski expects Bruning and DeJesus to be released for solo duty by the end of September and then to begin coursework at NILEA in January.

A New SOP

Meanwhile, members endorsed a new standard operating procedure which Cincoski drafted to establish policies and protocols for line-of-duty injuries and death and for officer-involved shootings. “While I hope never to have to deal with these issues,” Cincoski said, “I feel it is important that a specific policy be in place in the event of such an incident, for a number of reasons: protection of the officer and his/her family; protection of the rights of citizens, and--probably most important--because emotions can get high during these types of incidents, having a detailed procedure in place will ensure that everyone is focused.”

Cincoski said that he asked department instructors, former federal agents, and other agency chiefs to review the SOP. “For obvious reasons, it has been the hardest and longest one I have had to work on.”

The nine-page SOP covers such topics as notifications, investigative chain of command, administrative oversight, criminal investigation by independent law enforcement agencies, the interview of officers and witnesses, civil liability, the use of audio and video recordings, officer debriefing, and media relations.

Declared Surplus

Members voted unanimously to declare three vehicles surplus in advance of the town’s annual municipal auction at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 19, at the Street Department, 1490 Broadway.

The vehicles: a 2011 Dodge Charger, a 2009 Dodge Durango, and a 2006 Chevrolet Impala.

Also declared surplus: 13 bicycles.

July in Review

In July the CPD responded to 642 calls (667 in June), filed 58 cases (57), issued 36 citations and 19 warnings (31 and 32), and investigated 31 accidents with 10 injuries (36 accidents with five injuries).

Calls for service in July included three reports of shoplifting (zero in June), 108 suspicious vehicles or persons (92), 12 thefts (15), 37 alarms (50), four incidents of vandalism (nine), two overdoses (two), one train complaint (zero), four animal complaints (four), 128 traffic stops (135), two missing persons (zero), one attempted burglary (zero), two reports of battery (three), one burglary (two), 30 disturbances (46), three reports of fraud (13), one motor vehicle theft (zero), and one runaway (zero).

 

Posted 8/23/2017

 
 
 
 

 

 

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