The Lake County Prosecutor's Office is taking over the county's homicide unit.
Prosecutor Bernard Carter made the announcement during a press conference in Gary Friday. "If you're committing crimes out there, we want you. But not only you — we want your friends and anyone else who is committing these crimes with you. And we're going to have the ability to do that. We're going to have the intellectual knowledge on the streets," Carter said.
He said the task force will include six Gary Police detectives, two Indiana State Police troopers and one State Excise Police officer — along with representatives from the prosecutor's office.
Friday's press conference was also an opportunity for Mayor Jerome Prince and Interim Police Chief Jerry Williams to convince residents that the police department is moving in the right direction, ahead of the mayoral primary. Williams said he's appointed a new command staff and increased the police presence, since he took over in January.
"We've increased our patrol capacity, in some concerns, up to as much as 50 percent, on any given shift," Williams added.
He said the department will soon be rolling out body cameras to officers, and they're also making progress on hiring, the website, facilities and vehicles.
This comes as Prince's opponent, current State Senator Eddie Melton, announced endorsements from the Gary FOP and firefighters' union. Melton has criticized the police department for falling short when it comes to collaborating with other agencies, especially the Lake County Sheriff's Office.
Still, Prosecutor Carter warned that police and politicians can't solve Gary's problems alone. "If you've got child gang-banging and got a gun, you need to call the police," Carter said. "There's no doubt about it. Because he's going to get killed, and then you're going to be in my office, 'My son didn't draw that gun. They put it on him,' or whatever they lie and say. That's not the case."
Carter said turning in a child who's involved in gang activity could end up saving their life.
