La Porte Sheriff's Office celebrates achievements, honors deputies

The La Porte County Sheriff's Office held a holiday gathering on January 9th where they celebrated the accomplishments of the past year and presented awards.

Sheriff John Boyd outlined the department's accomplishments including:

• Creating a vision and mission statement
• Moving forward with an application to join HIDTA a federal drug task force
• Acquiring “Argo” an explosives detection K-9
• The jail work crew supervised by Corporal Bobby Blair provided 7,067 man hours in various community service projects
• Realigning shift assignments to put more manpower on the afternoon shift
• Reinstituting town hall meeting with various communities throughout the county
• Strengthening the working relationships with many local, state and federal law enforcement agencies

“We were very pleased with the hard work and performance of our deputies this past year and felt that hosting this event so that they could enjoy an evening with their spouse and colleagues would be very appropriate”, stated Sheriff Boyd. “In the past year we have worked hard ay building trust within our communities and with the citizens of La Porte County and I firmly believe that our deputies have helped achieve that success. This gathering was a good opportunity to also recognize several of our staff members that were involved in incidents where extraordinary work brought a positive outcome. Twice in 2015 La Porte County Deputies were faced with armed, suicidal people; those extremely dangerous and tense situations were resolved with true professionalism. Having witnessed the positive outcome, our administrative staff knew it would be appropriate to create an award for meritorious service. We are proud of all of the hard working men and women of the La Porte County Sheriff’s Office, from the most senior deputy to the newest hired jail deputy, we will strive to be even more productive in the coming year.”

These deputies were recognized for being the top three in DUI enforcement for 2015

• Deputy Aaron Stobaugh
• Deputy Andrew Thomas
• Deputy James Lear
• Deputy William Masterson   

These deputies received a commendation for meritorious service for an incident involving a suspect firing a weapon in a home in Hudson Lake on December 30th.

• Sergeant Brett Swanson
• Deputy Paul Adams
• Deputy Andrew Hahn
• Deputy James Lear
• Deputy Andrew Thomas
• Deputy DJ Vohs

These deputies received a commendation for meritorious service following a stand-off with an armed robbery suspect on I-94 which occurred on February 27th.

• Captain Michael Kellems
• Deputy Troy Ryan

The following deputy received a commendation for meritorious service following a stand-off with an armed suicidal person on CR 1000 N on June 12th

• Deputy Andrew Hahn

The following deputy received a commendation for meritorious service for negotiating for nearly six hours with a suicidal person on the overpass in La Porte on November 25th

• Captain Michael Kellems

Those that received awards for meritorious service were presented with a certificate that outlines their achievement and will also be authorized to wear a Meritorious Service pin on their class A uniform.