It was only a false alarm but Bob Allison was impressed all the same by the Chesterton Police Department’s rapid response.

At the Police Commission’s meeting Thursday night, members took receipt of a note from Allison in which he expressed his gratitude to all of the officers—and the dispatcher—who responded to his suspicious-circumstances call on May 17.

Allison had noticed a broken window in a neighbor’s garage and two male subjects—driving a truck loaded with appliances—boarding it up. Allison called the CPD and officers were on the scene promptly to investigate, Allison said in his note.

Turns out, one of the men was the neighbor’s son, the other was the son’s friend, and they were simply moving items from the house.

“It is a pleasure to know your officers are right there when you need them, even if it is a false alarm (sorry, guys),” Allison said. “A lot of good things are happening within the CPD and they have a strong leader. Keep at it, you’re doing a great job.”

Also thanking the CPD was the Duneland Resale Shop for officers’ assistance on June 3 with its Bark for Life fundraiser for the American Cancer Society.

In other business, the commission voted 3-0 to adopt revisions to Chapter 1 of the CPD’s Rules and Regulations.

Chapter 1—a 19-page document—covers a variety of topics, including definitions, rank structure, duty conduct, and basic essential job functions.

In May the CPD responded to 2,303 calls (1,817 in April), filed 68 cases (48), filed 10 felony charges and 30 misdemeanor (14 and 34), issued 305 citations and 578 warnings (226 and 427), served 11 warrants (11), and investigated 29 accidents with six injuries (23 accidents with five injuries).

Last month the CPD also assigned 30 juvenile cases and closed 28 of them (26 and 24 in April).

Calls for service in May included 50 alarms (40 in April), 26 animal complaints (14), four reports of battery (zero), three burglaries (three), 18 disturbances (21), three domestic calls (five), one fireworks complaint (zero), four reports of fraud (five), 23 miscellaneous juvenile complaints (17), one missing person (one), two motor vehicle thefts (one), five noise complaints (six), 12 parking violations (eight), three peddler complaints (one), one runaway (zero), one sex offense (zero), one report of shoplifting (one), one suicide (zero), 50 suspicious circumstances (55), 25 suspicious persons (17), 20 suspicious vehicles (30), 16 thefts (20), 913 traffic stops (734), 11 incidents of vandalism (16), and three vehicle repossessions (one).

Posted 6/18/2012