PORTAGE | Cruising southbound on the Willowcreek Road bypass, a car zooms past Assistant Police Chief Larry Jolley. (Read the Blog.)
Along the 30-mph road, Jolley clocks the car at 51 mph. As the driver turns to enter the Indiana Toll Road, Jolley activates his lights. The driver pulls over.
"I saw you coming up on my mirror like I was parked," Jolley told the driver.
After running a check on the Illinois-plated Cadillac, Jolley writes him a warning ticket. The man, who has a home in Beverly Shores, was on his way to pick up his parents from the airport.
"He was a super nice guy, but he wasn't paying attention," Jolley said, getting back into the unmarked police car.
"Ninety-eight to 99 percent of the people you stop are nice and respectful," he said.
On this particular Friday night's 3 to 11 p.m. shift, there are six patrol officers on the road. Jolley was out, supplementing the patrol, because, he said, he sometimes likes to get out from behind his desk and back on the street. Friday nights, usually, are particularly busy.
This Friday night, however, was an exception to the rule. The city, for the most part, remained quiet.
Jolley made another traffic stop at Old Porter and Samuelson roads, which has recently been switched to a four-way stop intersection. That driver ran the stop sign. He, too, was polite and was given a warning.
Most often officers write warnings rather than citations, he said. The difference is often decided in the attitude of the motorist.
Later in the evening, Jolley and other officers responded to a call on Monument Avenue. Two teens out skateboarding had heard what sounded like cries for help from the adjacent wooded area. Officers Lisa Duncan and Joe Radic also responded. Using their flashlights, they walked the trails. A crew from the Portage Fire Department was called in with a thermal imaging camera. They too searched. No one was found, and police and firefighters cleared the scene.
There were other calls answered during the shift. Two neighbors in Camelot Manor Mobile Home Park were feuding. A woman claimed her neighbor stole her dog. An alleged drunken driver was stopped along Central Avenue. A disabled semi was blocking the intersection of U.S. 6 and Ash Street.
"Guys like to be busy, but you never like to have a crime happen," Jolley said.
When it is a slower, officers "self-initiate" work, he said. They often give extra patrols to areas where people have complained about speeding.
For Jolley, the extra that Friday night was monitoring U.S. 20. The highway, he said, is a corridor for drug trafficking. The traffickers choose U.S. 20 over Interstate 94, he said, because of an errant belief that there are more patrols on the interstate. Publicity about high-profile drug arrests on the interstates has caused traffickers to change routes to what they believe are less-watched roads.
Parked off U.S. 20, Jolley looks for vehicles with Illinois or LaPorte County license plates. He watches as they pass and looks for the reaction of the driver or passenger to passing an unmarked car.
At one point, Jolley follows a car with Illinois license plates. He watches to see if they glance in their mirrors to watch him. They don't pay much attention.
The driver of the Camaro, he said, is driving almost too perfectly. He could be a drug dealer or just "a regular good guy" passing through town.
Without probable cause to stop the driver, Jolley watches a little longer as the car pulls into a local convenience store. His suspicions are eased and Jolley goes back out on U.S. 20 and continues to patrol.
