Latest news with #DougMiller
Yahoo
05-03-2025
- Yahoo
Top-notch community programs and involvement land Apple Creek PD state recognition
The Apple Creek Police Department has been named the March 2025 Agency of the Month by the Ohio Association of Chiefs of Police and the Law Enforcement Foundation. The recognition is part of the Sharing Ohio's Best program, which highlights outstanding community policing efforts across the state. The program, which began in 2019, focuses on creativity and the impact of programs on individual communities, according to an announcement. Apple Creek Police Chief Doug Miller and his team were recognized for their efforts to integrate themselves into the community, particularly during times of need. The department implemented community programs, including Shop With the Chief, which provides gift cards to families in need, and a Thanksgiving meal sponsorship program. The department also offers a New Year's Safe Ride Program, providing free rides home New Year's Eve, and a Community Camera Program, which allows residents to register outdoor cameras to assist with investigations. The departmnent maintains an active presence on social media to keep the community informed and conduct daily house and business checks. Miller, who was sworn in last September, has focused on recruiting officers with a strong commitment to community policing. He expressed his gratitude for the recognition. "I am extremely humbled and so excited for our department to be recognized for our efforts," Miller said in the news release. "Apple Creek Police officers are community focused, vigilant in deterring crime and enforcing traffic violations to keep our community safe. I want to personally thank the Ohio Association of Chiefs of Police for this honor. I would also like to thank my officers and the community for all of their support." The recognition not only highlights the department's dedication to community engagement but also makes it eligible for small grants to support ongoing community policing strategies. The Community Relations and Engagement Committee of the Sharing Ohio's Best program compiles submissions from agencies and selects one each month to be recognized. Typically, the committee focuses on creativity and how the program impacts the individual community. Recent programs that have been recognized include a teen driving course, programs to help the disabled and programs focusing on community safety. This story was created by Jane Imbody, jimbody@ with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Journalists were involved in every step of the information gathering, review, editing and publishing process. Learn more at This article originally appeared on The Daily Record: Apple Creek Police Department recognized for community policing effort
Yahoo
11-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Bill to ban homeless people from street camping comes from think-tank hundreds of miles away
Indiana lawmakers are considering a bill that advocates say would criminalize homelessness across the state. The bill's language mirrors model legislation from the Cicero Institute, a conservative Texas-based think tank that has pitched similar legislation around the country to combat rising homelessness numbers. In Indianapolis, the city's homeless population rose 5% from 2023 to 2024, according to an annual count held last year. It's also just the latest bill that taps into the state vs. local government control fight that happens every legislative session. House Bill 1662 would prohibit camping or sleeping on state or local government-owned property. A person found sleeping or camping on streets or public property would receive an initial warning and then a Class C misdemeanor for their next violation. The bill also says local governments cannot direct law enforcement or prosecuting attorneys to ignore enforcing the street camping ban and would allow Hoosiers or the attorney general to bring civil lawsuits against municipalities they believe are not following the law. Subscribe to our politics newsletter The House Committee on Government and Regulatory Reform only heard testimony on the bill on Monday. Whether the committee will vote on the bill is unclear at this point, as lawmakers face a looming deadline to get bills out of committees by next Monday. State Rep. Doug Miller, R-Elkhart, who chairs the committee, said lawmakers would continue to have discussions this week before making a decision on whether to vote on the bill. But advocates for expanding homeless services and Democratic lawmakers on Tuesday questioned the purpose of the bill and whether the state or local governments should control a municipality's homelessness policies. 'This is for a local government to decide how to handle,' said Thomas Lopez, the Center Township Trustee from Hancock County. 'Not a bill that is not addressing the real issues with homelessness, but rather give an okay to clean up the streets.' State Rep. Michelle Davis, R-Whiteland, who authored the bill confirmed Monday that the language came from The Cicero Institute. The organization, founded by tech entrepreneur and investor Joe Lonsdale, points to states like Georgia and Florida that have passed legislation based on Cicero policies that ban homeless encampments. The Cicero Institute's position has been affirmed in the last year from a 2024 U.S. Supreme Court decision that ruled cities can ban people from sleeping and camping in public spaces and past comments from President Donald Trump about supporting the removal of homeless people from public streets. Lonsdale, who founded software company Palantir, wrote in 2023 for an urban policy magazine that homelessness policies are often 'controlled by a national activist movement' that has not made progress on solving problems across the country. 'Made up of thousands of service providers, this movement has become unaccountable and has failed to make meaningful improvements in conditions for the homeless, all while docking taxpayers more and more money,' Lonsdale wrote. More: Indy's homeless count rose in 2024, reversing downward trend in wake of pandemic Devon Kurtz, the Cicero Institute's policy director, emphasized at the House committee on Monday that the country's current approach to address homelessness is not working. "Indiana and the country as a whole, is not experiencing a homelessness crisis as much as experiencing an unsheltered humanitarian disaster,' Kurtz said. 'More must be done helping people leave the streets.' But some lawmakers and people who testified Monday questioned whether language from a Texas-based organization would improve homelessness in Indiana, hundreds of miles away. Homelessness is a 'local, sometimes hyperlocal issue that needs resources,' said Rabbi Aaron Spiegel, with the Greater Indianapolis Multifaith Alliance. 'Texas-based interest groups telling us what to do doesn't help,' Spiegel said. Davis told committee members that she had not communicated with local governments about how the bill would conflict with local ordinances. She said she did not view the bill as state overreach when a Democratic committee member asked if lawmakers were overstepping with Davis' proposal. Representatives of various advocacy and religious organizations from Indiana United Ways to the Marion County Reentry Coalition said what Indiana's homeless population needs is more investment in services rather than adding criminal misdemeanors to someone who is already struggling. 'House Bill 1662 will burden individuals with fines and arrest records and significantly burden taxpayers,' said Lori Phillips-Steele, the Indiana director of the Corporation for Supportive Housing. 'It relies on expensive crisis response systems like policing, court systems, emergency medical services and jails, and individuals are often discharged right back into homelessness, perpetuating the cycle of homelessness and incarceration without actually reducing homelessness.' Doris Jones, who co-founded Hope Packages in Indianapolis, asked lawmakers to focus on ways to help homeless populations around the state. 'Come up with a solution of more shelters on the streets instead of harassing people who only need housing,' Jones said. 'That's the issue, more affordable housing, more shelters.' Contact IndyStar state government and politics reporter Brittany Carloni at or 317-779-4468. Follow her on Twitter/X@CarloniBrittany. This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana lawmakers consider bill to ban homeless people from street camping
USA Today
11-02-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
Bill to ban homeless people from street camping comes from think-tank hundreds of miles away
Bill to ban homeless people from street camping comes from think-tank hundreds of miles away Show Caption Hide Caption Founder of Safe Park Indy stresses importance of helping the community Safe Park Indy partnered with a church in Indianapolis to give homeless people a safe place to park and sleep at night. Indiana lawmakers are considering a bill that advocates say would criminalize homelessness across the state. The bill's language mirrors model legislation from the Cicero Institute, a conservative Texas-based think tank that has pitched similar legislation around the country to combat rising homelessness numbers. In Indianapolis, the city's homeless population rose 5% from 2023 to 2024, according to an annual count held last year. It's also just the latest bill that taps into the state vs. local government control fight that happens every legislative session. House Bill 1662 would prohibit camping or sleeping on state or local government-owned property. A person found sleeping or camping on streets or public property would receive an initial warning and then a Class C misdemeanor for their next violation. The bill also says local governments cannot direct law enforcement or prosecuting attorneys to ignore enforcing the street camping ban and would allow Hoosiers or the attorney general to bring civil lawsuits against municipalities they believe are not following the law. Subscribe to our politics newsletter The House Committee on Government and Regulatory Reform only heard testimony on the bill on Monday. Whether the committee will vote on the bill is unclear at this point, as lawmakers face a looming deadline to get bills out of committees by next Monday. State Rep. Doug Miller, R-Elkhart, who chairs the committee, said lawmakers would continue to have discussions this week before making a decision on whether to vote on the bill. But advocates for expanding homeless services and Democratic lawmakers on Tuesday questioned the purpose of the bill and whether the state or local governments should control a municipality's homelessness policies. 'This is for a local government to decide how to handle,' said Thomas Lopez, the Center Township Trustee from Hancock County. 'Not a bill that is not addressing the real issues with homelessness, but rather give an okay to clean up the streets.' Cicero Institute policies spreading State Rep. Michelle Davis, R-Whiteland, who authored the bill confirmed Monday that the language came from The Cicero Institute. The organization, founded by tech entrepreneur and investor Joe Lonsdale, points to states like Georgia and Florida that have passed legislation based on Cicero policies that ban homeless encampments. The Cicero Institute's position has been affirmed in the last year from a 2024 U.S. Supreme Court decision that ruled cities can ban people from sleeping and camping in public spaces and past comments from President Donald Trump about supporting the removal of homeless people from public streets. Lonsdale, who founded software company Palantir, wrote in 2023 for an urban policy magazine that homelessness policies are often 'controlled by a national activist movement' that has not made progress on solving problems across the country. 'Made up of thousands of service providers, this movement has become unaccountable and has failed to make meaningful improvements in conditions for the homeless, all while docking taxpayers more and more money,' Lonsdale wrote. More: Indy's homeless count rose in 2024, reversing downward trend in wake of pandemic Devon Kurtz, the Cicero Institute's policy director, emphasized at the House committee on Monday that the country's current approach to address homelessness is not working. "Indiana and the country as a whole, is not experiencing a homelessness crisis as much as experiencing an unsheltered humanitarian disaster,' Kurtz said. 'More must be done helping people leave the streets.' But some lawmakers and people who testified Monday questioned whether language from a Texas-based organization would improve homelessness in Indiana, hundreds of miles away. Homelessness is a 'local, sometimes hyperlocal issue that needs resources,' said Rabbi Aaron Spiegel, with the Greater Indianapolis Multifaith Alliance. 'Texas-based interest groups telling us what to do doesn't help,' Spiegel said. Davis told committee members that she had not communicated with local governments about how the bill would conflict with local ordinances. She said she did not view the bill as state overreach when a Democratic committee member asked if lawmakers were overstepping with Davis' proposal. Advocates say more services needed Representatives of various advocacy and religious organizations from Indiana United Ways to the Marion County Reentry Coalition said what Indiana's homeless population needs is more investment in services rather than adding criminal misdemeanors to someone who is already struggling. 'House Bill 1662 will burden individuals with fines and arrest records and significantly burden taxpayers,' said Lori Phillips-Steele, the Indiana director of the Corporation for Supportive Housing. 'It relies on expensive crisis response systems like policing, court systems, emergency medical services and jails, and individuals are often discharged right back into homelessness, perpetuating the cycle of homelessness and incarceration without actually reducing homelessness.' Doris Jones, who co-founded Hope Packages in Indianapolis, asked lawmakers to focus on ways to help homeless populations around the state. 'Come up with a solution of more shelters on the streets instead of harassing people who only need housing,' Jones said. 'That's the issue, more affordable housing, more shelters.' Contact IndyStar state government and politics reporter Brittany Carloni at or 317-779-4468. Follow her on Twitter/X@CarloniBrittany.
Yahoo
27-01-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Housing fund to get an additional $25M under bill
Rep. Doug Miller, R-Elkhart, speaks about housing before a committee on Jan. 27, 2025. (Whitney Downard/Indiana Capital Chronicle) House committee members on Monday voted to add an additional $25 million to a revolving loan fund designed to incentivize housing construction. In particular, House Bill 1005 prioritizes funding for rural communities with density-friendly rules, such as multifamily units, and allows the funds to be used for infrastructure improvements. A homebuilder himself, Rep. Doug Miller said $82 million from the first two rounds of funding had supported the construction of roughly 3,350 units of housing. 'If you look in the context of the total permits on an annual basis for the state of Indiana, those are impressive numbers to bring housing stock to our communities,' said the Elkhart Republican. Indiana awards communities $51 million in housing infrastructure boost An additional component of the bill would allow builders to use 'private providers' if a municipality cannot accommodate an inspection request within ten days. Inspections could instead be performed by licensed architects, licensed engineers, certified building officials or certified home inspectors. 'The goal here is to try and take the burden off of (local units of government) without sacrificing quality or effectiveness,' Miller said. Using a private provider would likely be more expensive, however, since government-employed inspectors have more legal protections than private inspectors. Seven other states allow private providers to perform inspections, Miller added. The provision would be optional, Miller said, and communities were free to supply homebuilders with approved lists of private providers. The language about these inspectors gave some pause, including Accelerate Indiana Municipalities, which testified as neutral on the bill. That group testifies on behalf of Indiana cities and towns. West Lafayette Democrat Rep. Chris Campbell was the sole 'no' vote due to this provision but said she was open to changing her vote on the House floor. Seven other groups testified in favor of the bill, including the state home builder association, architects and medical device manufacturers. Maggie Shane, on behalf of the Indiana Association of Realtors, reported that the median home price in Indiana had grown to $244,000 while new builds cost closer to $379,000. 'Those are astounding — astonishing, I would say — numbers when it comes to thinking about how attainable is homeownership and will that continue to be the American dream,' Shane said. 'New, single-home construction demand is such that we anticipate between now and 2028 a demand for 143,000 new single-family homes. That is 30% more than the rate we're at right now.' The bill advanced on an 11-1 vote and will now be heard before the Ways and Means Committee. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
