CROWN POINT — A countywide unit of veteran homicide detectives may launch soon, say law enforcement officials, but it will be focused on cases in Gary instead of from there to Cedar Lake as originally conceived.
Politics, economics and other issues caused repeated delays after the idea surfaced more than a year ago, leading officials to proceed with just the agencies willing to participate.
“It’s baby steps,” Lake County Prosecutor Bernard Carter said. “We are going forward as a metro unit, but once we get going, we will take over every homicide in Lake County.”
Lake County Sheriff John Buncich said Friday an announcement is expected this week.
Buncich, Carter and Gary Police Chief Larry McKinley will lead the yet-unnamed team, which includes Lake County Coroner Merrilee Frey, and will operate primarily out of a space near the sheriff’s headquarters.. Four detectives from Gary, one from East Chicago and three from Lake County will work homicides in those three jurisdictions, Carter said.
The Northwest Indiana Major Crimes Task Force will assist the remaining police agencies when asked for help, Carter said.
Hammond Police Chief John Doughty was out of town and not available for comment on his department’s lack of participation.
East Chicago Police Chief Mark Becker said that joining forces against crime is beneficial to residents throughout Northwest Indiana.
“I spoke with the mayor today,” Becker said Thursday. “He agrees that it’s in the city’s best interest to participate in a regional approach.”
Carter said the unit is modeled after the 22-year-old St. Joseph County Metro Unit comprising South Bend, Mishawaka and St. Joseph County police. Prosecutors assigned to the team work alongside detectives from the beginning of each violent death, which Lake County chief deputy prosecutor Barbara McConnell said will result in a more comprehensive investigation.
“Police look at a scene differently from the way prosecutors do. We are thinking how it will play in court, and we might be asking them to talk to other people or ask other questions,” she said.
When the idea was first proposed, Buncich appeared to be the leader, but other police agencies wanted the prosecutor at the top of the unit, following the St. Joseph structure.
U.S. Attorney David Capp said Friday his experience with the St. Joseph team has been excellent.
“It’s not as big or as many incidents as we have here, but the solve rate is about 40 percent higher,” he said. Although few violent deaths fall within federal jurisdiction, Capp said his office gets RICO cases that stem from those crimes.
Solving a higher percentage of Gary homicides, officials say, will reduce crime in other ways. Killers often are repeat offenders responsible for other crimes and sometimes other homicides. Locking them up halts their activity and convicting them sends a message to other criminals.
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Both Carter and Capp said the primary goal of the county unit is to bring Gary’s homicide rate down. Year after year, the violent deaths in Gary are double that of the rest of the county.
Having an office outside of Gary, Carter said, may encourage witnesses to cooperate. Gary investigators say they often fail to convince witnesses to provide formal statements, causing cases to languish unsolved. Police may know who committed the homicide, but can’t proceed to court.
Buncich predicts that having a homicide unit in the same facility as the county’s drug and gang task forces will help investigators share information because they will have access to important resources.
Gary Investigations Cmdr. Del Stout said he has high expectations that the multi-agency unit will bring more solved cases and more convictions.
“Having a dedicated team of experienced investigators working with the prosecutor will definitely help us,” he said.