FORT WAYNE, Ind. — Whitley County Sheriff Mark Hodges and Chief Deputy Sheriff Marcus Gatton successfully completed “The Business of Public Safety” series at the Public Safety Academy of Northeast Indiana.

This series was hosted by the High Performance Government Network and designed to provide Northeast Indiana public safety leaders with a forum to learn new skills and tools, share their best practices, and collaborate with their peers.

“Whitley County will benefit from Sheriff Hodges’s and Chief Deputy Sheriff Gatton’s commitment to learning and sharing operational best practices with other public safety leaders,” said Bernie Beier, Director of the Public Safety Academy of Northeast Indiana. “As a region, we must continue to become safer by collaborating and sharing.”

“The Business of Public Safety” series provided public safety and elected leaders from across Northeast Indiana with an overview of private sector tools and lessons learned to improve operational performance of their departments. Speakers at the series included Dr. Frank Straub, Director of the Indianapolis Public Safety Department; Neil Moore, Executive Director of the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute; Jim Greeson, Indiana State Fire Marshall; and Chet Epperson, Police Chief for Rockford, Illinois.

This is part of an ongoing “Public Safety Executive Leadership Series” for Northeast Indiana public safety leaders hosted by the Public Safety Academy of Northeast Indiana and the High Performance Government Network. More information is available at www.hpgnetwork.com.

It is a great pleasure to share that we have about a dozen employees of the Sheriff’s Department who participates in many of the walks and/or races held in our area.  Last Saturday, five of us ran in the 5K/10K races sponsored by the Kosciusko County YMCA.  Tasha Farris was the brave one among us and ran the 10K.  Mike Engle, Tony Helfrich, Jeremy Brice and I ran the 5K. 

There are several other employees here that are working out at the YMCA or at Any Time Fitness for weight loss and overall fitness.  Congratulations to everyone for devoting time to your health.

The Whitley County Drug Task Force is diligently following up on tips on methamphetamine labs and other drug activity.  Four meth labs have been discovered in the last ten days.  We are very fortunate to have two deputies that are qualified to identify, dismantle and clean up a meth lab.  Most departments our size has no one and must rely on the Indiana State Police for assistance. 

The Task Force is asking for help from the public by reporting suspicious activity to the tip line at 260-248-3155.  You can leave an anonymous tip but investigators ask that you leave as much information and details as possible.  You can also email a tip to dtf@whitleysd.com or call the department at 260-244-6410 and select option 4.

The Safe Assured Child ID Kit program will be operating at several locations this summer.  The program electronically records your child walking and talking.  It also records his or her fingerprints and documents certain personal information.  This information is then burned to a compact disk that is kept by the parents.  Look for the program during Old Settlers Days and during the 4H Fair.

Once again this summer, the Sheriff’s Department will be at the 4H Fair in the Commercial Building.  We will have lots of give-away items for adults and kids.  Be sure to stop by our booth for a road map, gun locks, coloring books and Junior Deputy stickers.

Grant money has been awarded to this department for several different projects.  First, I would like to thank Whitley County chapter of Drug Free Indiana for funds to purchase a radar unit that will be frequently used for drug interdiction patrols on US 30. 

Grant money was also obtained for some sliding shelves in our evidence room.  The shelves are on a track allowing the individual units to be pushed together which allows extra space in the room.  Or the shelves move apart to allow a walking space between them.  This improvement has more than doubled our storage area and greatly improves organization of the evidence. 

The third grant is actually two grants that have been a long time in the making.  More than a year ago, Commissioner Tom Rethlake and I began working on a project called Guaranteed Energy Savings Project.  Several mechanical engineering companies walked through the entire building analyzing the current heating and cooling system as well as the fluorescent lighting.  After months of meetings, presentations and analysis, grants have been awarded for new energy efficient fluorescent lighting and a new heating and cooling system.  Thanks to Lori Shipman, Grant Coordinator, for her hard work that has brought nearly $300,000 of improvements to the entire Sheriff’s Department building.

As you plan your summer vacations or weekend get-a ways, I encourage everyone to buckle up and obey the speed limits.  Never hesitate to call 911 to report an impaired driver or any other emergency that you might encounter on the highways.

When you see your local sheriff out and about in your community, you may notice a different style license plate attached to his car.

Many of the sheriffs in the State of Indiana will be commemorating the Indiana Sheriffs’ Association’s 80th Anniversary by displaying a license plate designed for this occasion by Deputy Matt Ford, Clinton County Sheriff’s Office, Frankfort, IN. These plates will remain on their vehicles until July 30, 2010.

As these sheriffs proudly exhibit this license plate, they not only recognize the celebrating of the anniversary, but it is intended to call attention that the ISA (the Indiana Sheriffs’ Association) has been in existence from 1930 to 2010; the drape represents the Thin Blue Line signifying the vehicle owner is either an active or retired Law Enforcement Officer, the relative of one, or soon to be sworn in officer; that the vehicle is owned and driven by one of the 92 Indiana sheriffs— the number on each plate indicates the county represented.

The Indiana Sheriffs’ Association was established in 1930 and incorporated as a not-for-profit organization in 1977. The Association is comprised of the 92 Indiana county sheriffs, their deputies and other law-abiding citizens throughout the State of Indiana. Its purpose is to provide assistance to each sheriff, their deputies and other department personnel, thereby enabling them to improve the manner in which they carry out the responsibilities entailed in law enforcement and correctional services.

By Mark Hodges

As I try to write this month’s article, I am having trouble knowing where to begin.  Having three homicides in the last five months is quite obviously out of the norm for Whitley County. 

While we were investigating the disappearance of Deb Houser last November, I was asked by the news media about how often a homicide occurs in Whitley County.  From my experience I told them one about every five or six years.  Then in January a body was discovered in a woods in Union Township.  Then on March 18^th, we began investigating the disappearance of 14 year old Kaylin Doggendorf.  Late Friday night, March 19^th, the body of Kaylin was discovered just into Kosciusko County, not far from her Whitley County home. 

 I am not too proud or macho to say that Kaylin’s death was very emotional for several of us in this department.  Deputy Scott Geist took the initial report of Kaylin being missing.  As facts and evidence started to come in, we realized something wasn’t right.  Chief Deputy Marc Gatton became very involved in the investigation as did Detective Chuck Vogely.  Within 24 hours, Gatton and Vogely developed a suspect and on Friday morning he was located. 

 There is so much more investigation that occurred that I cannot go into, but by late Friday night the suspect was in custody and charged with Kaylin’s death.  I want to publicly thank Chief Deputy Marcus Gatton, Detective Chuck Vogely, Deputy Scott Geist, Deputy Dennis Ruch and Reserve Deputies Sean Martin and Tyson Howenstine for their dedication to this investigation.  The citizens of Whitley County should be proud to have these men as officers of the Sheriff’s Department.  I know I am.

On a much lighter topic, the Whitley County Sheriff’s Reserves are preparing a fund raising raffle that will kick off in the next few weeks.  A Remington model 870 shotgun and a Savage caliber 17HMR rifle are the prizes that will go to two lucky ticket holders.  Most any department member or Reserve will have tickets for sale at $10.00 each.  Drawing will be held on October 31 at the annual pancake and sausage breakfast. 

The Reserves are also having a fish and tenderloin supper on May 1^st from 4pm to 8pm at the FOP Building, 606 W. Van Buren Street, Columbia City.  Please help your Reserve organization raise needed funds by attending the fish and tenderloin supper and purchasing a raffle ticket.

In closing, I have been approached by so many people in the last 3 weeks offering praise for our work on the last homicide.  People have also shared that they are thinking of us and praying for us.  For all of you who have publically spoken or privately prayed, I thank you very much.  Your thoughts, your words and your prayers are greatly appreciated.

Details are still a bit sketchy at the moment, but a pursuit just west of Churubusco ended after a Whitley County Sheriff’s deputy car was stolen during the pursuit.

The pursuit began at U.S. 30 and S.R. 205 when a green vehicle refused to stop for the officer. The chase continued north on S.R. 205, when the person fleeing hit a set of “stop sticks” set up by a Churubusco police officer, near Blue Lake Road.

The suspects then veered into a field on the south side of the road and proceeded to head towards a patch of woods.

At some point the officer radioed that his squad car had been taken, and was was spotted heading in the direction of the county road with red lights and sirens blaring.

During the chase – with the perpetrator still inside – the squad car made a sharp turn, barreling the car through a ditch at 300 North and 675 East. The chase continued until he tried to make one last turn at Johnson Road and S.R. 205, near the area of Collins.

He fled on foot across the highway and was apprehended seconds later by a host of officers.

An ambulance was called to the scene for the main complaint of pain by the suspect. No one else was injured in the incident.

Article Contributed

Sheriff Mark Hodges announces today that he is running for re-election in 2010.  Hodges was elected Sheriff in November 2006 and is completing his first four year term.  After being elected, Sheriff Hodges retired from the Indiana State Police with 26 years of service.

Citing pledges from his first campaign, Sheriff Hodges compared accomplishments with his original goals 1) Increasing Chaplain services 2) Training 3) Professionalism.  In the last three years all three goals have been attained.

At the beginning of 2007, Gerald and Jeanette Bills were the only Chaplains to visit the Sheriff’s Department on a regular basis.  Now ten additional individuals regularly visit along with numerous others who assist with the Tuesday afternoon cell block ministry and the Sunday evening church services.

Training and professionalism are tied closely together.  The professionalism of any group or organization is greatly enhanced as training is increased.  Some of the training in the last three years includes computer forensics, highway drug interdiction, Excited Delirium, jail medical issues, jail staffing methods, Human Resource and hiring practices.  Sheriff Hodges also instituted mandatory first aid/CPR and defensive tactics training.

Several accomplishments have occurred in the past three years for the Whitley County Sheriff’s Department.  A tremendous upgrade was made to the video security system.  The old original black & white security cameras along with the non-working recording system were replaced with digital color cameras and a digital video recording system.  Numerous incidents and crimes within the jail building have been solved because personnel were able to review the constant digital recordings that are being made.

Changing the inmate commissary to in-house rather than out-sourcing the products have increased profits more than 500 percent.  These profits have allowed Sheriff Hodges to add needed equipment without using budget funding. 

In mid year of 2007, Sheriff Hodges contracted the inmate health care to Health Professionals, LTD.  Out-sourcing this service has proven itself by saving the County thousands of dollars and setting protocols that greatly assist all employees of this department.

Beginning the Department’s first canine unit is another accomplishment that Sheriff Hodges credits to the deputies and others that encouraged initiating the program. They solicited funds from area businesses and citizens resulting in two officers and dogs being trained at no cost from the department budget.  Both officers and their K9 partners have been utilized numerous times on traffic stops, school searches and public programs.

The evidence room was moved to the basement in an effort to streamline evidence handling and retention.  The former evidence room was about 77 square feet and the new room is more than 300 square feet.  This increase in space allows for better handling of firearm, drug and cash evidence.

Goals for Sheriff Hodges’ second term include the use of a video conferencing system.  Under his direction, the Sheriff’s Department has been making aggressive attempts to secure funding from various sources for this important equipment. Video conferencing would save money by decreasing the number of prisoner transports because the prisoner would make his or her court appearance via video equipment.  Prisoner security would be increased because many inmates would make their court appearance from the Whitley County jail rather than being walked across the street.   Sheriff Hodges also wants to continue upgrading the evidence room with additional movable storage shelves.

Sheriff Hodges thinks he has gotten a good start with positive changes and improvements to the department.  He believes much more can be accomplished in a second term.  He cites Lee Iacocca in his book Where Have All The Leaders Gone?  “Here’s the test of a leader: When he leaves office, we should feel better off than when he started.  It’s just that simple.”  This is the philosophy of Sheriff Mark Hodges, and for that reason he is asking for your support in the 2010 election.

Following are the December 2009 statistics for the Whitley County Sheriff’s Department:

		Whitley County Sheriff’s Department Activity
Year to Date Total					Jan	Feb	March	April	May	June	July	August	Sept.	Oct.	Nov.	Dec.
4984		Paper Service			433	443	414	440	460	362	496	354	413	440	333	396
5825		Calls for Service			437	392	470	494	494	510	537	497	481	509	491	513
386		Warrant Service			27	35	43	23	47	22	27	31	37	38	23	33
1546		Traffic Citations			84	91	166	174	232	127	135	138	106	105	118	70
1520		Traffic Warnings			72	129	188	140	225	85	100	97	100	97	193	94
100		Driving While Intoxicated			7	5	12	11	10	12	6	7	9	7	2	12
424		Property Damage Accidents			68	28	29	15	32	22	16	30	19	46	51	68
99		Personal Injury Accidents			7	7	2	7	9	14	13	9	5	7	12	7
11		Fatal Accidents			0	2	0	0	1	0	2	0	0	4	0	2
525		Criminal Investigations			23	36	41	52	42	53	45	58	47	42	37	49
370		Criminal Arrests			17	21	30	34	59	40	29	27	32	20	25	36
47843		Prisoner Transport Miles			2933	4650	5612	2717	1924	2298	5197	4889	4720	6547	4321	2035
369976		Total Miles Driven			26907	27515	34957	30375	32896	27293	32905	30843	30223	32464	33544	30054

From The Sheriff’s Desk – December 2009

by Mark Hodges, Whitley County Sheriff

It goes without saying that the investigation of the disappearance of Debra Houser has kept nearly everyone from the Sheriff’s Department busy for the past three weeks. Information that was gathered in the investigation leads us to believe she has been killed and her body was placed in or near water. For those reasons, many different agencies have assisted in the search. The Indiana State Police and Department of Natural Resources have provided equipment and manpower to search several lakes and ponds with sonar equipment. Our local Emergency Management Office along with equipment and volunteers from Thorncreek Township Fire Department searched some of the same waters with an extremely high quality underwater camera.

Several canine handlers from Noble County searched water, fields and wooded areas with cadaver dogs. The Indiana State Police provided a helicopter and an airplane along with numerous Troopers that assisted on the ground. On the third day of searching, dozens of volunteers reported to the Larwill Fire Station and were assigned areas of ground searching in Richland, Cleveland and Etna Troy townships. Help also came from every police agency in Whitley County as did volunteers from every fire department. I am sure I have missed someone or group; however, I want to say thank you to everyone that has helped in any way. I also want to say thank you to everyone that was praying for the investigation. Several of you spoke to me about this, and it is greatly appreciated.

On a lighter note, November 14th was the first Veteran’s Day Marathon race for Columbia City and Whitley County. Reserve deputies from the sheriff’s department provided traffic direction at various intersections along the race course. Gary Bird did well at organizing the event and the weather even cooperated. The Reserves are prepared to assist in next year’s marathon as more runners are expected to participate.

Annually, the Columbia City Trinity Presbyterian Church provides a cook-out style meal for employees of the sheriff’s department and offices in the court house. On October 9th, several members and volunteers from the church cooked up brats, burgers, side dishes and very tasty desserts for us. On behalf of everyone that was served, I want to say thank you to the church and the volunteers.

Toys for Tots and the Sheriff's Department once again teamed up again for the collection of toys for area children in need.

Toys for Tots and the sheriff’s department once again teamed up again for the collection of toys. The United States Marines have been the guiding force behind this drive for many years. The Sheriff’s Department just provides a car for the collection during the live nativity on the Court House Square along with a collection drop box in our lobby.

I have had a lot of questions and comments on the car I am now driving. It is a 2009 Dodge Charger with the smaller hemi engine. I wanted to try one prior to buying several for our fleet. When the car first was introduced, Dodge had some problems with the brake pads wearing too quickly. In 2008, that problem was fixed. I was also curious as to the gas mileage from the Charger as the hemi engine will run on four cylinders during routine driving. In November, I got 19 miles per gallon. The department average for November was 14.9 miles per gallon. While my average was pretty good for a police car, I am still concerned about the mileage if the car was used for regular patrolling. The Indiana State Police are putting two Chargers on the road here in Whitley County within the next few months. I will monitor their mileage and report my findings. You will notice that my car is not the standard two tone brown. Adding two colors to a car costs an extra $500 to $900.  For that reason, I did not get the dark brown paint and the two patrol cars for 2010 will be a solid color also.

I will be writing again in February. Until then, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

-Sheriff Hodges

WHITLEY COUNTY, Ind. (Nov. 2009) — Following is the monthly and year-to-date activity report for the Whitley County Sheriff’s Department.

Whitley County Sheriff’s Department Activity
Year to Date Total					Jan	Feb	March	April	May	June	July	August	Sept.	Oct.
4255		Paper Service			433	443	414	440	460	362	496	354	413	440
4821		Calls for Service			437	392	470	494	494	510	537	497	481	509
330		Warrant Service			27	35	43	23	47	22	27	31	37	38
1358		Traffic Citations			84	91	166	174	232	127	135	138	106	105
1233		Traffic Warnings			72	129	188	140	225	85	100	97	100	97
86		Driving While Intoxicated			7	5	12	11	10	12	6	7	9	7
305		Property Damage Accidents			68	28	29	15	32	22	16	30	19	46
80		Personal Injury Accidents			7	7	2	7	9	14	13	9	5	7
9		Fatal Accidents			0	2	0	0	1	0	2	0	0	4
439		Criminal Investigations			23	36	41	52	42	53	45	58	47	42
309		Criminal Arrests			17	21	30	34	59	40	29	27	32	20
41487		Prisoner Transport Miles			2933	4650	5612	2717	1924	2298	5197	4889	4720	6547
305891		Total Miles Driven			26907	27515	34957	30375	32896	27293	32905	30843	30223	31977