Cloverdale PD making progress
CLOVERDALE -- Town Marshal Steve Hibler announced that the Cloverdale Police Department is “trying to do an assessment of where we’re at, trying to get out and do law enforcement, and then trying to get some things worked out.”
After taking office last month, Hibler said he found 66 warrants that had not been served, and by then 27 had expired. But Hibler and the Cloverdale Police Department have been working with the Putnam County Sheriff’s Department, the Greencastle Police Department and the Owen County Sheriff’s Department to serve the remaining 39 warrants and capture wanted individuals.
“Some of them are our heavy drug dealers,” Marshal Hibler said. “We had one that was a Level 2 felon that we worked in coordination with Owen County, and literally the warrant came out and in two hours we had him in custody in the Putnam County Jail, so that’s some of the stuff that we’re trying to get accomplished.”
So far the CPD has arrested a total of 10 people, while two others were arrested or found by other local departments.
Other issues have been finding insurance to cover K-9 Officer “Chewy” in the event of death or injury, which required the dog’s temporary suspension until such coverage was obtained.
Marshal Hibler, assisted by Safety Board Adviser Phil Parker, has also created a new time sheet and policies regarding overtime to prevent accumulating compensatory time balances like the town has struggled with in the past.
“What this is designed to do,” Parker said, “is give Marshal Hibler a firmer grasp on what hours everybody is working, how those hours convert into overtime and how that actually converts into pay.
“The crux behind all this,” Parker added, “is to do several things: One, there are still some outstanding comp time balances held by (Officer Charlie Hallam) and (Officer Luke Brown) that the marshal has been working pretty hard on in the last two weeks pay period. That’s going to take several weeks to do that because of the balances. Then from that point forward we’re tracking a little more closely how long they work.”
Parker added that he will monitor the pay sheets and that overtime must now be approved by Marshal Hibler.
He also said that Marshal Hibler has scheduled the three-person police department to cover at least 77 percent of the town at all times and implemented a call-out schedule so that every first call will reach a CPD officer.
“So that speaks a little bit to his scheduling capabilities here,” Parker said. “He has provided a copy of that to the Department of Corrections up here, so the DOC now knows when the town’s covered, when the town’s not covered. The Sheriff’s Department knows that too.”
Also in the new policies was a “pursuit policy” (which sets standards for police vehicle operation), the use of force, a code of professional conduct, official duties, performance evaluations and the mission statement.
“This is the cornerstone of the agency,” Parker said. “This is what we subscribe to as the Cloverdale Police Department. ‘The Cloverdale Police Department will show and provide the most professional, effective and courteous police service possible at all times. The protection of life and property will be our primary focus. We will uphold and defend the federal and Indiana state constitution. We will address crimes and offenders with diligent, conscientious and proactive initiatives. We shall regard our office as a public trust, and in the discharge of our duties will be constantly mindful of our primary obligation to efficiently and effectively serve the citizens of Cloverdale and those who visit our town.’”
A copy of the complete mission statement and policies established so far is available at the Cloverdale Town Hall.
Parker said more policy changes are coming, and that he and Marshal Hibler would keep the council updated. Marshal Hibler specifically mentioned a policy for evidence handling and improving the department’s physical evidence archives.
“I want to be transparent to the (council) and the citizens,” Marshal Hibler said. “I believe in reaching out and meeting people. I’ve gotten around. I came out and we had a nice little conversation, and you said, ‘Hey, can you get some of these people out that are dealing drugs?’ And we got three of them gone. And that’s what we’re going to keep moving forward and doing. My other intent is that our officers will be in Cloverdale.”
Clerk-Treasurer Cheryl Galloway added that an elderly resident had come to the town hall to make a donation to the police department after seeing Marshal Hibler’s response to an accident earlier that day.
“She had an envelope and she had $40 in that,” Clerk-Treasurer Galloway said, “and it was in change. So you know that she didn’t have any money at all. But she really appreciated what they did and she brought in cash to be put into the police donations (fund).”