Merrillville brings police ranks to 58
Merrillville police Chief Joseph Petruch said the department should have a total of 60 officers within a couple of months, allowing more officers to participate in various special units and task forces.
Two new officers, Nicholas W. Enyeart and Julian J. Garza, were sworn in during Tuesday’s Town Council meeting, bringing the number of officers on the force to 58, Petruch said.
Garza, 26, resides in Lake Station and was a Gary police officer, Petruch said. Enyeart, 29, was a police officer in Rensselaer. Both will start at a 2nd class pay rate, he said.
Petruch said another police officer is expected to be sworn in soon, possibly within a month, and another after the first of the new year.
“That will put us at 60. We’ve never been at 60,” Petruch said.
Petruch credited the department’s pay scale, which he said has resulted in a higher retention of officers, for helping reach the 60member mark.
In a workshop session prior to the council meeting, council members learned that they could give all town employees, includ- ing its police officers, either $1,000 or $1,500 a year raises from 2019 to 2021 and still maintain a balance in the general fund budget at the end of each year.
“The town does have room for a salary increase,” said Damon Tsouklis, a director with financial advisers Cender & Co.
The council did not take any action regarding raises at Tuesday’s meeting.
Petruch said the department will be more diverse with the additional police officers.
He said one officer has been assigned to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Task Force and another to the FBI White Collar Crime unit. Two officers have been assigned to a drug unit and three to a gang task force.
“The drug unit will probably go full-time,” he said.
Petruch said the department is working with the Merrillville Community School Corp. to have extra patrols at school bus stops in some more heavily traveled areas in town.
“Hopefully, this will deter people from driving past school buses when the arm is down. We want to keep our communities safe,” Petruch said. “We’ve issued about a dozen citations in the past two weeks we’ve been out.”
Town Council President Richard Hardaway, D-2nd, said Merrillville was ranked No. 17 of the top 20 safest communities in Northwest Indiana.
“Congratulations to the police officers and Chief Petruch and his staff,” Hardaway said.