Chief Dick Praises Dedication of Jasper Police Department

In recent public comments, Jasper Police Chief Chad Dick provided some updates on the JPD. 

As the holiday season draws closer, Chief Dick said that the department continues to see more activity. During the month of November, the Jasper Police Department responded to 1,166 calls for service and conducted 62 building checks. They worked a total of 47 crashes, with 236 traffic contacts. There were 46 arrests, 3 forensic interviews, and 14 interviews. They executed 4 search warrants, responded to 3 after-hours call-outs, and opened 4 new child-involved investigations. 

The department assisted ICAC, or Internet Crimes Against Children, as Sergeant Brescher traveled to Mission City for the polygraph of an offender involved in a child molesting case in Jasper. The JPD also assisted the Huntingburg Police Department with ICAC search warrants. Chief Dick said that the JPD has worked in participation with ICAC for quite a while, and this this is an area of law enforcement that has become a real necessity. He continued, “We're constantly in a backlog, uh, just due to the amount of cases that are coming in.” 

School resource officers had 267 reportable activities including conducting searches, stop arm violations, truancy, home visits, safety drills and presentations, and informal student counseling. JPD’s narcotics detective seized 4 grams of meth and 14 grams of cocaine from a stolen vehicle and served a search warrant. 

The Dispatch Supervisor position is open and accepting applications. In November, the dispatch center received 539 911 calls, which is 38% of the total calls for Dubois County. The new geofence directs all calls generated in specified geographic areas to be routed to Jasper 911. 

Once the department hires its new Dispatch Supervisor, which is the final budgeted position, it will be considered fully staffed. Two current officers, however, have accepted conditional offers with the State Police. They will not have a final decision until January, which would be too late to get new officers eligible to go to the January Academy. There are two qualified candidates, so Chief Dick elected to proceed with what he described as an unorthodox approach. Conditional offers will be extended to the candidates so that they can begin completing the steps necessary to make them eligible to attend the academy. The offers will be contingent on completion of hiring conditions and position availability. 

Closing out his public remarks, Chief Dick praised his fellow officers and the dedication that they show each day. “I can't say enough about the hard work that the men and women do down there at the police department, and I'm honored to stand here to represent those folks. They're true servants of the city, wanting to make sure that the city is a safe community for us all.” 

For more information on these and other updates, visit jasperindiana.gov or JasperGov-Indiana on Facebook.


 - By Drew Hasselbring