The Lake County Sheriff's Department is the county law enforcement agency for Lake County,

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

History

The first

sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland, the , which is common ...

was elected in 1837, when Lake County was organized. Notorious gangster

John Dillinger John Herbert Dillinger (; June 22, 1903 – July 22, 1934) was an American gangster during the Great Depression. He commanded the Dillinger Gang, which was accused of robbing twenty-four banks and four police stations. Dillinger was imprison ...

was held in the Lake County jail from January 1934 to March, when he escaped. The sheriff at the time was Lillian Holley, who held the office after the previous sheriff, her husband Roy, was shot and killed: although the media mocked her for Dillinger's escape, the fault lay with the prison warden and his officers. In 1975, the Sheriff was found in contempt for failing to improve conditions at the jail. In 1985, Sheriff Rudy Bartolomei was indicted on corruption charges. Bartolomei later turned state witness and was placed in witness protection after providing testimony against several Lake County political figures. In 1990 the burned body of a deputy and his wife were found in a car in

Gary, Indiana Gary ( ) is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. The population was 69,093 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it Indiana's List of municipalities in Indiana, eleventh-most populous city. The city has been historical ...

. The deputy was due to testify in a federal racketeering trial against a Merrillville town councilman. In 2016, Sheriff John Buncich was indicted on federal public corruption and bribery charges. His chief deputy and another person were also named in the charges. In 2021, officers of the

Crown Point, Indiana Crown Point is a city in and the county seat of Lake County, Indiana, United States. The population was 34,884 per the 2023 American Community Survey. The city was incorporated in 1868. On October 31, 1834, Solon Robinson and his family became ...

police department began to pursue a vehicle for speeding 90 mph in a posted 45 mph zone. The vehicle was being driven by Sheriff Oscar Martinez Jr., who activated the emergency lights on the vehicle, after which the police stopped their pursuit. The county commissioners soon sent a letter to the county prosecutor asking for an investigation into alleged misuse of county vehicles. In January 2022, Martinez was indicted on charges of resisting law enforcement and reckless driving. Martinez called the indictment a "witch hunt" and nevertheless ran for office in the 2022 election. In February 2024, Martinez pleaded guilty to reckless driving, a misdemeanor, in exchange for a felony charge of resisting law enforcement to be dropped by prosecutors and was sentenced to sixty days probation.

Organization

The Lake County Sheriff's Department employs 168 sworn police officers, 170 sworn corrections officers and 156 civilians under the sheriff's direction.History of the Lake County Sheriff's Department
The command staff includes a chief of police and four commanders, each responsible for a division, who are assisted by deputy commanders. The Corrections Division is led by a chief warden, an assistant warden and three deputy wardens. *Staff Services Division consists of the Bureau of Information, Bookkeeping,

Human Resources Human resources (HR) is the set of people who make up the workforce of an organization, business sector, industry, or economy. A narrower concept is human capital, the knowledge and skills which the individuals command. Similar terms include ' ...

, Property/Evidence Management,

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Training Training is teaching, or developing in oneself or others, any skills and knowledge or fitness that relate to specific useful competencies. Training has specific goals of improving one's capability, capacity, productivity and performance. I ...

and Vehicle Maintenance Operations. *Civil Division is charged with serving

summons A summons (also known in England and Wales as a claim form or plaint note, and in the Australian state of New South Wales as a court attendance notice (CAN)) is a legal document issued by a court (a ''judicial summons'') or by an administrative ag ...

subpoena A subpoena (; also subpœna, supenna or subpena) or witness summons is a writ issued by a government agency, most often a court, to compel testimony by a witness or production of evidence under a penalty for failure. There are two common types of ...

eviction Eviction is the removal of a Tenement (law), tenant from leasehold estate, rental property by the landlord. In some jurisdictions it may also involve the removal of persons from premises that were foreclosure, foreclosed by a mortgagee (often ...

s and

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s of the Lake County Superior and Circuit courts as well as from other jurisdictions. *Corrections Division operates the Lake County Jail and administers the Work Release Program designed as an alternative to incarceration for non-violent offenders. The modern Lake County Jail opened in 1975 in a five-floor facility with 286 beds. In 1991, capacity was increased to 460 beds and additions in 2000 provided for a total of 1,085 beds. A Special Operations Response Team (SORT) is utilized in controlling inmate disturbances and restoring order in emergency situations. *Criminal Investigations Division comprises the

General Assignment A general assignment or assignment is a concept in bankruptcy law in which an insolvent entity's assets are assigned to someone as an alternative to a bankruptcy. One form is an "assignment for the benefit of creditors", abbreviated ABC or AFB ...

, Auto Theft, Special Victims Unit, and Warrant units as well as the

Crime Lab A crime laboratory, often shortened to crime lab, is a scientific laboratory, using primarily forensic science for the purpose of examining evidence from criminal cases. Lab personnel A typical crime lab has two sets of personnel: *Field ana ...

oratory and officers assigned to multi-jurisdictional task forces. *Uniform Division primarily provides police service to the unincorporated areas of the county and in the town of Winfield which does not have an established police department. This division also maintains an organized Bicycle Unit as well as a Traffic Unit which utilizes both patrol vehicles and

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike; uni (if one-wheeled); trike (if three-wheeled); quad (if four-wheeled)) is a lightweight private 1-to-2 passenger personal motor vehicle Steering, steered by a Motorcycle handlebar, handlebar from a saddle-style ...

s for enforcement and has trained accident reconstructionists. The Court Security Unit provides security at all county courts located at the Lake County Government Center and at facilities in East Chicago, Gary and Hammond. The department also has a number of Special Operations Units with specifically trained personnel assigned for Aquatics Underwater Recovery and Rescue,

Aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' include fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air aircraft such as h ...

, Bomb Squad, Chaplains, K-9, Marine, Tactical (SWAT) and a mobile communications Command Center.

Aircraft

The Lake County Sheriff's Department has three helicopters used for law enforcement in the county and for assistance to local police agencies. They are maintained by the Aviation Unit and are operated from the Griffith-Merrillville Airport in

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. According to FAA records, the helicopters currently registered to the agency include a Bell OH-58A a Bell OH-58A and a Eurocopter EC120B

Demographics

Fallen officers

In the history of the Lake County Sheriff's Department, seven officers have been killed in the line of duty.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Lake County Sheriff's DepartmentLake County GovernmentIndiana State Police
Lake County, Indiana Sheriffs' departments of Indiana 1837 establishments in Indiana