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).