Chief Terry Scherer

City of La Porte, Indiana

Police Department

"Live and love La Porte, Indiana."

1206 Michigan Avenue La Porte, Indiana 46350 * Phone (219)362-9446 * FAX: (219)324-4375

Please note that many of the graphics in the left column of this web site are also hyperlinks. Also, by clicking on text that is in red and underlined on the pages of this site, you expand the bulleted list and access more information.

Community Outreach Programs

• Citizen's Police Academy
  • Overview
    • The Citizen's Police Academy is a twelve week program that is intended to help educate the public as to the function and operations of the police department. Classes will be taught by sworn police officers from various branches of the La Porte City 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.
  • Selection Requirements
    • Must a La Porte County resident or work in La Porte City Police Department 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
    • Citizen's Police Academy Application
    • Citizen's Police Academy Brochure
    • Citizen's Police Academy Information Sheet
• Community Relations Coordinator
  • The LaPorte City Police Department's Community Policing Coordinator is Captain Dennis Behenna who also oversees all training for the department as well. The Community Policing Coordinator works with the LaPorte Neighborhood Watch Association and Citizen's Police Academy as well as initiating other projects directly related to community policing. 
• Explorer Post
  • The LaPorte City Police Department now has an Explorer Post attached to the police department. The Explorer Post, which is advised by Captain Terry Scherer, is a win-win situation for both the police department and the young men and women that are involved in the Explorer Post. The Explorer Post lets the officers of the police department have an opportunity to interact with the young men and women in a positive manner and help them learn about law enforcement while learning from the Explorers as well. The participants in the Explorer program will have an opportunity to learn more about law enforcement and whether they might like to pursue it as a career while they have an opportunity to serve the community. Chief Terry Scherer is the liaison for the Explorer Post.
• La Porte Neighborhood Watch Association
  • The LaPorte Neighborhood Watch Association has been in existence in the City of LaPorte 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 LaPorte City Police Department realizes how vital and strategic a role the LaPorte Neighborhood Watch Association plays in this community and intends to support the LaPorte 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 LaPorte City Police Department in partnership with the LaPorte Neighborhood Watch Association encourages all citizens of the City of LaPorte to consider Neighborhood Watch membership as a way of increasing their level of community involvement. 
  • Sgt. Larry Mitchell is currently the liaison for the La Porte Neighborhood Watch.
• Beat Meetings
  • The LaPorte City Police Department also will 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 LaPorte.  These meetings are being held in cooperation with the LaPorte Neighborhood Watch association and initially will be used as informational meetings for Neighborhood Watch. The LaPorte City 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 LaPorte County Metro Task Force
  • The LaPorte City Police Department has officers assigned to work with the LaPorte County Metro Task Force to address the drug problems in this community as well as LaPorte County as a whole and is a joint venture between the larger law enforcement agencies that works under the overall direction of the LaPorte County Prosecutor.  
  • The Metro Task Force is the unit that handles almost all ongoing drug investigations in the City of LaPorte 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 LaPorte City 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 LaPorte City Police Department has an active Reserve Officer Program that we are currently planning to expand beyond its current three members. Reserve Officers are specially trained, unpaid volunteers that assist regular officers from the LaPorte City Police Department in the performance of their duties.
  • The LaPorte City Police Department plans to hold its own Reserve Officer Academy beginning this fall, and in combination with some other training, eventually beginning certifying Reserve Officers for solo patrol duty.
• School Resource Officer
  • The LaPorte City Police Department, in partnership with the LaPorte Community School Corporation, has a full-time officer, Sergeant Larry Mitchell, serving as a School Resource Officer at LaPorte High School. The School Resource Officer is a very important to both the police department and LaPorte High School because he is able to address many problems and disputes between students at the high school before those disputes are settled on the streets.  In addition, the School Resource Officer also works in cooperation with school officials to help beef up security in school buildings as well as acting as a liaison between the schools and the police department.

Special Enforcement Target Areas

• Overview
  • The LaPorte City 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 LaPorte City 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.
  • There has been a recent increase in the number of night time thefts from vehicles. We encourage all citizens to secure their valuables in their residences at night rather than leaving them in plain view in vehicles. We have some leads on these thefts, but encourage everyone to call in any suspicious activity immediately.

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 LaPorte City 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 LaPorte City Police Department. This form may be used to report chronic problems of a minor nature or may be used to give information that will help us to solve past crimes.
  • LaPorte 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 LaPorte 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. 

01/24/2008