Chesterton, Porter and county officials try to move forward after rift from June shooting

Chicago Tribune

01-07-2025

There were glimmers of possibility Tuesday morning for Porter County and the towns of Chesterton and Porter to mend their rift following an officer-involved shooting on June 18.
While facts continue to be disputed by the towns and county, Chesterton Town Council President Sharon Darnell, D-4th, and Vice President Erin Collins, D-2nd, engaged in cordial talk with Porter County Board of Commissioners President Jim Biggs, R-North, and Porter County E911 Director Debby Gunn following a news conference organized by Biggs in the commissioners chambers at the county administration building Tuesday morning.
County officials did not take questions during the two-part presentation.
Biggs and Gunn have called for Chesterton and Porter's dispatch to merge with county dispatch and Biggs has suggested increasing the county's local income tax to cover the expense, as first reported by the Post-Tribune June 22. Officials from both towns have said they are not interested in a merger.
The shooting is under investigation by Indiana State Police; the injured officer is recovering at home and he and the second officer involved in the shooting remain on paid leave. The Post-Tribune is not naming the officers because of the open investigation.
Gunn, whom the towns have called upon to step down for what they say has been fear mongering regarding the safety and efficacy of their police dispatch center which is independent of the county dispatch consortium, gave a timeline of events on June 18, followed by a refuting of various statements made by the Chesterton Town Council and various entities.
Porter County Board of Commissioners President Jim Biggs, R-North, has gotten much criticism for reaching out to The Post-Tribune shortly after a Chesterton officer was shot and airlifted to an Illinois hospital and a suspect died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head after exchanging fire with police and being hit multiple times in front of the Hilton Garden Inn in the 500 block of Gateway Boulevard.
'At no time during or following this incident did I, or anyone from PCCC (Porter County Central Communications), contact the press,' Gunn said as she began her remarks.
Collins shook her head throughout the 16 statements pulled primarily from Facebook and news articles that Gunn refuted individually, except one.
That statement from a town of Chesterton Facebook post on June 26 reads, 'Officers from area departments have told CPD staff that PCCC never advised many of them that there was an active shooter/officer down over their respective radio channels for which the regional E911 center dispatches.'
Gunn said that is true, that the Valparaiso Police Department was not advised of the incident.
Regarding the town of Chesterton's intention to draft letters to the Porter County Council, the Board of Commissioners and the state's public access counselor requesting an investigation of potential disclosure of privileged information by Gunn per Indiana Code 5-24-3-6.5, Gunn said that code was repealed in 2019.
After Gunn concluded her presentation, Biggs spoke briefly, saying calls for Gunn to step down are 'unwarranted' and 'baseless.' He said considering that 80% of the dispatched calls to the two towns involve first responders dispatched by PC E911, it is untrue that the events of that day are none of the county's business.
'When that incident occurred on the 18th, that broke me,' he said. 'I will apologize to the towns of Chesterton and Porter if I have not conveyed that accurately.'
'We will continue to agree to disagree on the facts that were presented today,' Darnell said after the event.
From her perspective, Collins said staffing issues preclude the county from being able to take on police dispatching for the two towns.
'Why don't they have the staffing opportunity for that? I believe it's because of the director,' she said, adding that people are still leaving despite pay increases. 'It's been a constant, the issues within the county dispatch,' she said. 'The toxic environment that is going on in Porter County Dispatch.'
After the event, Biggs and Gunn spent time speaking with Collins and Darnell.
'Sharon just told me that years ago, when the consolidation was considered, they had some equipment that allowed them to speak directly to Porter County,' Biggs said. He said he told her that they should see if the county could share the cost of reinstating that system if cost is an issue.
He agreed with Collins that absorbing the eight full-time and 11 part-time dispatchers from the Porter/Chesterton Dispatch Center could be challenging if they agreed to consolidate, but not because of leadership.
He thinks an additional four to six dispatchers would be needed to consolidate and isn't sure they would be able to absorb all 19. Even a lesser amount would have to be worked out in the county's budgeting process that begins in August for next year.
Biggs was asked why he hadn't reached out to the town of Chesterton.
'I did,' he said. 'I talked to (Police Chief) Tim Richardson yesterday. I told him that we're ready to meet. We need to get past this. It is not good for either unit of government.'
For his part, Richardson, who watched the news conference on live stream, said Gunn's numbers don't add up on the timeline she provided.
'She's complaining about 57 seconds, when it took the E911 Center one minute and 38 seconds to dispatch an ambulance.'
He also said Gunn's Fact Check #15, in which she said a guest commentary to local media outlets from January was written by a PCCC administrative staff member other than herself, was untrue.
He provided a copy of an email from Biggs dated Jan. 14 that says in part, 'Tim, I should tell you I reviewed the letter before it was sent out,' and 'This is precisely why I felt Debbie needed to respond.'
The Porter Town Council, meanwhile, released a statement Tuesday morning expressing solidarity with the town of Chesterton and their shared dispatch center.
The council cited the 'continued onslaught of public pressure and false accusations levied by our own county commissioner and the director of County E911.' The accusations concern the performance of the Chesterton/Porter dispatch center for the June 18 police involved shooting.
'Chesterton's call for the director's resignation is both reasonable and necessary. The Council stands behind our Police Chief's statement 100%,' said the statement signed by Council President Laura Madigan.