Crime Where I Live - Lake County, Indiana

Crime is rising at an incredible rate where I live (Lake County, Indiana). As a former deputy prosecutor for the state of Indiana, I recall in the nineties watching the defendants come through the courts at a rising rate. I recall when a defendant appeared in court who was from Chicago and was recruiting gang members from Crown Point High School. It was a wake-up call. Following are some arbitrary clippings of headlines (30 of them) from a local newspaper (The Times of NW Indiana) taken from 8 (nonconsecutive) days. There was no effort to find high crime days. These days are typical. 



The selected days were simply ones in which I remembered to copy the headlines for this piece. If I'd taken headlines from every day from when I started, August 20, 2009, there would have been dozens more headlines. No wonder many countries think we're a nation of gangsters and crime. We should all be very alarmed. Not frightened. But, very concerned. The ship is adrift and I don't really see anyone listening to the people (like Joe Arpaio, Sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona) who have some good ideas about getting us back on course. ***

• Aug 20, 2009 CROWN POINT A former Crown Point woman was sentenced on Thursday to 33 years in prison on charges of plotting with her teenage children to murder her husband.
• Aug 20, 2009 HAMMOND | Police are searching for a 16-year-old male suspect after a woman was shot in the head about 6:40 p.m. Wednesday, Hammond police Lt. Richard Hoyda said.
• Aug 21, 2009 MERRILLVILLE | Police think an employee at a Chase Bank branch at 6790 Broadway may be involved in a theft from the bank.
• Aug 21, 2009 SCHERERVILLE | A Schererville man was charged with battery in connection with a fight about an overflowing toilet.
• Aug 21, 2009 SCHERERVILLE | Schererville police are investigating a home burglary that was reported Tuesday afternoon.
• Aug 21, 2009 CROWN POINT | Lake County Prosecutor Bernard Carter is seeking a sentence of life without parole for a Gary teen charged in June's shooting death of gas station cashier Gurjeet Singh.
• Aug 21, 2009 HAMMOND | Three Chicago men were injured, one critically, in a fight outside a night club early Thursday.
• Aug 21, 2009 CROWN POINT | The Lake Station woman prosecutors accused of being the mastermind in the brutal beating of a pizza delivery driver has been found not guilty of the charges.
• Aug 21, 2009 CROWN POINT | Marlon Stringfellow, of Merrillville, was handed 15 1/2 years in prison Thursday for attacking his girlfriend last year with a hatchet.
• Aug 22, 2009 CROWN POINT | An East Chicago man was sentenced Friday to six years in prison for dealing cocaine, prosecutors said.
• Aug 22, 2009 HOBART | The Hobart Police Department and the FBI are investigating a Wednesday robbery at Woodforest National Bank inside Wal-Mart, 2936 E. 79th Ave.
• Aug 22, 2009 HOBART | Hobart police are searching for a 32-year-old Wheatfield man they say fled officers Wednesday in a truck stolen from the White County sheriff's office.
• Aug 28, 2009 GARY Police say the man accused of fatally shooting his daughter Thursday in the parking lot of a downtown Gary restaurant was upset the girl's mother might move.
• Aug 28, 2009 EAST CHICAGO An East Chicago man arrested Wednesday night after a bank robbery in Portage admitted to robbing that bank inside a Wal-Mart store and two others in Lake County Wal-Mart stores this month, according to federal authorities.
• Aug 29, 2009 MERRILLVILLE | A safe containing coins and a pistol was reported stolen Wednesday from a home in the 7300 block of Morton Street.
• Aug 29, 2009 MERRILLVILLE | Two Merrillville men are accused of taking two grass trimmers and a pole saw Tuesday from a truck owned by a lawn care business.
• Aug 29, 2009 HAMMOND | Police have released a photo of a woman sought in connection with the Monday assault on a Calumet City senior citizen outside a downtown convenience store.
• August 30, 2009 HAMMOND | With family at her side, Sarina Tatum was taken off life support Friday as police continued their search for the 14-year-old's killer, police
• August 30, 2009 HAMMOND Two men flee with cash after shootout at Hammond bank
• Sep 02, 2009 HAMMOND | A 34-year-old man has been sentenced to five years and three months in prison in connection with Dyer-based drug ring.
• Sep 02, 2009 HAMMOND | The man who robbed a Munster bank then rampaged through Lansing in a hijacked minivan was sentenced Wednesday to the statutory maximum of 20 years in prison.
• Sep 02, 2009 A 51-year-old Gary man died early Wednesday after being shot in while walking down the street Tuesday night.
• Sep 02, 2009 CROWN POINT | Lake County prosecutors filed murder charges Tuesday against an 18-year-old Gary man for Monday night's slaying of James Urbaszewski, 33.
• Sep 02, 2009 HOBART | The girlfriend of a 25-year-old Merrillville man contacted his parole officer after she found child pornography on his cell phone, police Lt. Steve Houck said.
• Sep 02, 2009 HOBART | A resident in the 4600 block of West 37th Avenue reported Monday that someone entered his house by breaking through a door, police Lt. Greg Viator said.
• Sep 02, 2009 MERRILLVILLE | Police have no suspects in a Monday burglary in the 7300 block of Marshall Street, police said.
• Sep 03, 2009 CROWN POINT | A 19-year-old Gary man was sentenced Wednesday to eight years in prison for robbing a man in a wheelchair.
• Sep 03, 2009 LOWELL An 18-year-old Lowell High School student is in custody after texting threats to some high school teachers Thursday morning, school and police officials said.
• Sep 03, 2009 CROWN POINT | The office of Lake County Prosecutor Bernard Carter has filed criminal charges against Darryl Cammack, the director of the defunct Serenity Gardens Funeral Home in Gary where four decomposing bodies were discovered in May.
• Sep 03, 2009 SCHERERVILLE | An unopened can of nacho cheese, a tray of Ring Pops and a tray of Airheads candy were among items stolen from a Schererville concession stand recently.