Community Policing

Community Outreach Programs

Citizen's Police Academy

Overview
- The Citizen's Police Academy is a twelve week program Classes are taught by sworn police officers from various branches of the La Porte Police Department. Classes will be held one night per week for three hours and are free to all qualifying members of the public. The purpose of this program is to facilitate better communications between the police department and the citizens of La Porte County through education. Graduates of this program will be better informed and have a greater understanding of police procedures and practices. We currently do not have any Citizen's Police Academies scheduled.
Selection Requirements
- Must be a La Porte County resident or work within the La Porte Police Department's jurisdiction.
- Must be at least 21 years of age.
- Must have no felony convictions.
- Must have no misdemeanor convictions in the last three years.
- Must be willing to undergo a background investigation.
- Must be approved by the Chief of Police and Board of Captains.
Topics Covered in the Citizen's Police Academy
- Recruitment and training.
- Criminal and traffic law.
- Use of force.
- Communications.
- Accident Investigation.
- Crime Scene Processing.
- Defensive Tactics.
- Emergency Vehicle Operations.
- Traffic Stop.
- Bike Patrol.
- K-9 Operations.
- Emergency Response Team Operations.
Applications and Information

Explorer Post

Exploring is Learning for Life's career education program for young men and women who are 14 (and have completed the eighth grade) or 15 through 20 years old. Adults are selected by the participating organization for involvement in the program. Color, race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, ethnic background, economic status, and citizenship are not criteria for participation.
Exploring's purpose is to provide experiences to help young people mature and to prepare them to become responsible and caring adults. Explorers are ready to investigate the meaning of interdependence in their personal relationships and communities.

Exploring is based on a unique and dynamic relationship between youth and the organizations in their communities. Local community organizations initiate an Explorer post by matching their people and program resources to the interests of young people in the community. The result is a program of activities that helps youth pursue their special interests, grow, and develop.

Explorer posts can specialize in a variety of career skills. Exploring programs are based on five areas of emphasis: career opportunities, life skills, citizenship, character education, and leadership experience. Anyone who fits the criteria listed above and is interested in a future career in law enforcement is encouraged to attend a meeting and begin the application process.

Any questions regarding the explorer program should be directed to Reserve Officer Michael Siford who is currently the advisor of the Explorer post. Reserve Officer Siford can be reached by email (msiford@lpcitypd.com).

La Porte Neighborhood Watch Association

The La Porte Neighborhood Watch Association has been in existence in the City of La Porte since 1994 and meets at the police station on a regular basis. Neighborhood Watch is a very vital program to the police department as well as the community. The Neighborhood Watch program serves as the police departments eyes and ears and is a very valuable network and source of information for its participants. The La Porte Police Department's Liaison is Reserve Officer John Bello.
The La Porte Police Department realizes how vital and strategic a role the La Porte Neighborhood Watch Association plays in this community and intends to support the La Porte Neighborhood Watch Association in such a manner as to maximize its benefits for all community stakeholders. Meeting dates and other information concerning Neighborhood Watch can be found on the main page on this site and the La Porte Police Department in partnership with the La Porte Neighborhood Watch Association encourages all citizens of the City of La Porte to consider Neighborhood Watch membership as a way of increasing their level of community involvement.

Beat Meetings

The La Porte Police Department will also begin holding regular meetings with citizens in different areas of the city in order to seek input on we can better serve the citizens of La Porte. These meetings are being held in cooperation with the La Porte Neighborhood Watch association and initially will be used as informational meetings for Neighborhood Watch. The La Porte Police Department will try and have as many officer on-duty officers as possible attending these meetings so that the public can meet them.

Partnership With The La Porte County Metro Task Force

The La Porte Police Department has officers assigned to work with the La Porte County Metro Task Force to address the drug problems in this community as well as La Porte County as a whole and is a joint venture between the larger law enforcement agencies that works under the overall direction of the La Porte County Prosecutor.
The Metro Task Force is the unit that handles almost all ongoing drug investigations in the City of La Porte and is the unit that ultimately receives any information that citizens provide about possible drug dealers in their neighborhoods. All information of the type is taken very seriously and is thoroughly investigated. Citizens are encouraged to call the La Porte Police Department if they suspect that someone is selling drugs in their neighborhoods. However, due to the difficult, time-consuming methods that are used to investigate drug cases and the necessity of attempting to identify suspects further up the drug supply chain; citizens reporting possible drug dealers should not expect immediate results.

Reserve Officer Program

The La Porte Police Department has an active Reserve Officer Program that we are currently planning to expand beyond its current four members. Reserve Officers are specially trained, unpaid volunteers that assist regular officers from the La Porte Police Department in the performance of their duties.

Special Enforcement Target Areas

Overview

The La Porte Police Department realizes that certain areas within our communities have significant ongoing problems develop that require special attention in terms of patrol presence in order to address their particular problems or issues. These special problems could be issues with criminal activity, traffic problems or even quality of life issues such as noise or animal ordinance violations. Unfortunately, we have limited manpower and other resources, so we cannot always immediately address all of the chronic problems going on in the city at one time. We must prioritize problems and we also must be sure that we completely understand the problems and develop systematic approaches to dealing with them. To learn more about problem analysis and problem-oriented policing in general, you might want to look at the Problem Oriented Policing Center web site.

Special Enforcement Target Areas

The La Porte Police Department is currently running extra traffic enforcement on Pine Lake Avenue in response to complaints from area residents and business owners about chronic speeding problems in the area. Officers are patrolling the area as much as problems in an effort to curtail the problems of speeding and illegal lane changes and prevent accidents.
There have been numerous reports of illegal narcotics being sold from residences on the near east side of town. We are utilizing saturation patrols and other techniques to address this problem, but we encourage all citizens to call in any suspected drug houses in their neighborhoods.

Interactive Forms

Overview

In an effort to make it as convenient as possible for citizens to bring problems in their neighborhoods to the attention of the La Porte Police Department, we are in the process of creating a series of interactive forms that will allow you to report problems anonymously if you wish. We strongly encourage you to report any problems in your neighborhood by using these forms and/or calling the police department because we cannot help you if we do not know the problem exists. Please note that all crimes in progress and other emergency situations should be reported immediately by telephone by dialing 911.

Forms

Crime Tips is intended to allow you to report any information that you have regarding possible criminal activity to the La Porte Police Department. This form may be used to report chronic problems of a minor nature, more serious situations such as drug dealing and other similar problems or may even be used to give information that will help us to solve past crimes.
La Porte Neighborhood Watch Association Interest Form is a form that allows you to indicate your interest in being contacted regarding Neighborhood Watch. You may fill out and submit this form online and a La Porte Neighborhood Watch Association representative will contact you.
Traffic Complaint Form is intended to allow you to report any chronic traffic safety problems in your neighborhood. Problems that should be reported using this form include: chronic speeding problems during certain hours of the day; problems with motorists chronically running a particular stop sign and other similar problems.

11/21/2012