Highland Police Department – Press Releases

In just four hours, residents dropped off 114 pounds of prescription and over-the-counter medications to Highland Police at the semi-annual National Drug Take Back Day Oct. 28.

Between May 1 and the end of October, residents deposited 306 pounds of unwanted medications with  Highland Police, who have, in turn, handed them over to the Drug Enforcement Administration for proper disposal. Drug take-back events reduce the likelihood of medications falling into the wrong hands and ensure safe disposal. Individuals should never put drugs in the trash or flush them down the drain.

You can dispose of unwanted medications in the lobby of the Highland Police Department, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. to noon on Saturdays, except for major holidays.

Needles are not accepted.

It is with regret that we announce the passing of one of our retired Police Officers, Paul Gard, who passed away on December 24, 2022.

Gard started his career as an Officer with the Munster Police Department and he left the Munster PD after one year of service and then he began working at the Highland Police Department on 09-15-70.  He retired from HPD on 05-02-2001, finding a retirement job first with Sears, and then the Indiana State Parole in Gary, where he spent another 10 years.

Paul had accomplished many things during his career with HPD.  From his assignment as a Patrol Sergeant, to Criminal Investigations Lieutenant, and then eventually Chief of Police in 2000.  

One of his most significant accomplishments was the implementation of Mobile Data Computers (MDT’s), of which Highland was the first to have them in northern Indiana and possibly the second or third in the entire state!  This initiative led to greater Officer Safety and response to calls for service and was an initiative which continues this day and was followed upon by all law enforcement in the area, of which Paul helped them to implement.  

Paul was found to possess many talents and he put those skills to use volunteering on his off hours to build offices and remodel sections of the Police Department.  There wasn’t a task Paul couldn’t accomplish while off duty either, as he was always found completing major home improvement projects, rebuilding a vehicle, or often times taking police department computers home for repairs.  Paul also liked to spend time with his family boating on Lake Michigan where they had a slip in Michigan City, Indiana or just lounging in his pool.

If you knew Paul, or spent any time with him (like many of us did), we’re certain your memory of him will never be forgotten as he always brought an interesting story to the conversation and many, many laughs!

He is survived by his wife Patty (whom was also one of our dispatchers), sons Paul Jr., Rick, and Scott and their families.

Paul will be sorely missed by ALL who knew him.

Fireworks are allowed between 5 p.m. and two hours after sunset JUNE 29 through JULY 9. The exception is JULY 4 between 10 a.m. and midnight. “Fireworks can be dangerous,” Highland Police Chief Pete Hojnicki said. “Take every precaution to stay safe.” Click here to learn more.

School may be out, but Highland Police Chief Pete Hojnicki is reminding parents and guardians that the town curfew is still in effect.

It is a violation for teens ages 15, 16 or 17 to be in a public place:

• Between midnight and 5 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.
• After 10:30 p.m. Sunday–Thursday.
• Before 5:30 a.m. Monday-Friday.

It is a curfew violation for children under 15 to be in a public place:

• Between 10 p.m. and 5:30 a.m. any day of the week.

Click here to learm more about the town's curfew.

9.70.020 NOISE RESTRICTIONS.

(A) General prohibitions. No person shall make or cause to be made any noise that unreasonably annoys, disturbs, injures or endangers the comfort, repose, health, peace, safety, or welfare of any person, or precludes their enjoyment of property or affects their property's value. This general prohibition is not limited by the specific restrictions listed in the following sections. Click here to learn more.

Strating Friday, June 4, our Support Services Office operating hours will be from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.

If you arrive at  the Highland Police Department between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. needing the services of a police officer, please enter our vestibule and access a wall-mounted telephone, which directly connects you to the Central Dispatch/911 center in Crown Point. Central Dispatch will send a police officer to you at the Highland Police Department vestibule.

Should you wish to use your own cell phone to call Central Dispatch, you may either dial 911 or call the non-emergency number of (219) 660-0000.

Click here to learn more.

In an effort to combat thefts from vehicles, the Highland Police Department has adopted the motto of "Beep it and Keep it" in an effort to promote the practice of locking the doors to your vehicles each and every time you park, especially at night. Most all thefts from vehicles are crimes of opportunity and over 90 percent of the theft reports taken by us are from when vehicle owners had left their vehicles unlocked. We also remind you to keep your valuables out of view and suggest you take them with you when parking your vehicle or at least locking them in the trunk.

Get in the habit of hitting that vehicle remote and locking your vehicle and listening for that "beep" when you go to bed- for the night. This is also that time you should be checking that your house doors are locked and you should make sure that your overhead garage door is closed as well. We observe that the most common night that overhead garage doors are left open is on the night before trash day. Nearly every night before trash day, our officers are always finding overhead garage doors open during our overnight patrols. Our officers will then stop by to let our residents know that they need to secure their garage doors.

Lastly, turn on that security light or porch light to illuminate your property for extra security. By getting in the nightly habit of the above routine, you can lessen your chances of becoming a victim of a crime.

We will be sending out regular reminders to our Facebook followers in an effort to get everyone in the routine as part of our crime prevention efforts.

The Highland Police Department hosted a training session Nov. 5 for Suicide Prevention Awareness for police officers from the Highland, Griffith and Munster. This training was made possible with the assistance of North Township Trustee Frank J. Mrvan and was taught by Erica Rios, a social worker with the Griffith Police Department, and by Rosie Quintanilla, a social worker and Community Development Coordinator with the North Township Trustee's Office.

Officers were taught how to recognize suicidal tendencies of people we encounter as well as how to provide access to mental health providers who can help those persons in need. Additional training was then provided to our officers on how to recognize and help fellow officers who may be suffering with potential suicidal thoughts.

Statistics show that officer deaths from suicide now nearly match the number of in the line of duty deaths nationwide. In 2018, at least 159 police officers took their own lives (Source: Blue H.E.L.P.) By contrast, the number of law enforcement officers who died in the line of duty in 2018 was 166 (Source: Officer Down Memorial Page). Collectively, our three departments recognize this problem and we wanted to take a proactive approach and this is why our extra training focused on suicide prevention relating to our police officers.

We will have one additional training session this month in order to accommodate the remaining officers from all three police departments. This is yet another example of your area police departments working together for the betterment of our communities. We would like to thank Trustee Frank Mrvan, Erica Rios, and Rosie Quintanilla for providing our training opportunity.

The Donald R. Sheppard Highland F.O.P. Lodge #122 held its annual Cops and Kids shopping trip Dec. 7 at the Highland Meijer store. This year's event hosted 76 Highland children and their families. The children were able to shop with Highland Police officers and police department employees. After the shopping trip, all of the children and their families were treated to breakfast at Blue Top Drive-in, which was donated by owner John Golfis. Once at Blue Top, each family also received a donation of groceries from Faith Kids, which is a children's group from the Highland Campus of Faith Church. Their students had previously held a food drive and gathereddonations of food for this worthy cause.

The Highland F.O.P. would like to thank Meijer and Store Director Kelly for their generous donation towards our shopping event and for their management and staff for being such gracious hosts. We would also like to thank our police officers, Blue Top Drive-in, Faith Kids and Faith Church, all of our Associate F.O.P. members, and our community members and businesses for their monetary donations. Without the help of all the above listed people, the Highland F.O.P. would not have been able to help these children and their families have a better Christmas this year.

On Saturday October 23, 2021, the Highland Police Department

participated in the National Drug Take Back Day. This is a day that is

promoted nationwide in an effort to have citizens properly dispose of

unwanted and expired prescription and over the counter drugs. On

Saturday, citizens dropped off a total of 175 pounds of prescription and

medications during a 4 hour period of time. Over the past 6 months, citizens have dropped off a total of 571 pounds of prescription and over the counter drugs (including Saturday’s event) to the Highland Police Department for proper disposal. The Highland Police Department turned over these collected prescriptions and

medications to the D.E.A. (Drug Enforcement Administration) for their

proper disposal.

REMINDER: Never throw drugs in the trash or flush them down the drain. The Highland Police Department collects unwanted medications between the hours of 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. daily at our drug disposal box in the lobby of the Highland Police Department. This service is free. No needles are accepted.

Highland Animal Control, the Police Department and Humane Indiana are partnering to provide the brightest outlook possible for the town’s neighborhood of outdoor cats. Once a feline is humanely trapped, either by a resident or Animal Control, the animal will be evaluated at Humane Indiana in Munster to see if it qualifies for the agency’s Community Cat (RTF) Return to Field program. Captured felines are vaccinated, sterilized and returned to their outdoor homes. The program is an important alternative to shelter intake, where statistics show only 0.03 percent of cats are returned to their owners. Click here to learn more.

Highland Police have taken several reports where people were scammed out of money by callers claiming to be arrested family members needing bond money or utility company reps collecting overdue bills. In some cases,Highland residents have been scammed out of thousands of dollars. Police are asking store managers to be vigilant in talking to customers making large purchases of gift cards. “Most victims are elderly residents,” Cmdr. John Banasiak said. “Please look out for those who may be vulnerable to this scam. Do what you can to prevent them from becoming victims.” Click here to learn more about crime prevention.

The Highland Police Department is starting a new program where Highland residents and businesses can voluntarily register their video surveillance systems with our police department. If a crime is committed in a particular area, officers will be able to check our map of registered cameras and see if there are any nearby cameras that might be of help to our investigators. The program is free, voluntary and confidential. 

This is a program that other police departments in the United States have been doing and we feel it is a great tool to have in order to assist our officers and investigators in following up on reported crimes.Only the Highland Police Department will have access to this database of registered video surveillance systems. We want to reemphasize – we are NOT gaining access to your surveillance system, but we are informing you to check your system should a crime have occurred in your vicinity. 

TO REGISTER: Please email your name, address, phone number and email address to [email protected]. QUESTIONS? Call Cmdr. John Banasiak at (219) 838-3184 or email [email protected].

The Highland Police Department will begin several extra patrol details Memorial Day through Labor Day, putting a strong police focus on our neighborhoods and our parks. We will utilize extra officers in addition to the normal staffing for each shift. “This extra initiative will help out with safety in our parks and neighborhoods and – ultimately – improve upon the quality of life issues that our Highland residents expect,” said Cmdr. John Banasiak, public information officer for the Highland Police Department. “

NEIGHBORHOOD PATROL: We will have additional officers patrolling our neighborhoods this summer addressing on-going speeding and stop sign violations as well as greeting children and residents.

PARK & BIKE TRAIL PATROL: Another extra detail we will have this summer will be the return of an officer utilizing our new Polaris Side-by-side four wheel drive vehicle in our parks and on our bike trails. Officers will be using this vehicle to gain access to our parks and trails where regular patrol vehicles cannot reach. These officers will also be encouraged to meet and greet our children and residents in our parks while baseball, softball and soccer games are being played.  

The Highland Police Department is happy to say that we have noticed an increase in the amount of people using either our police department lobby or our parking lot for those conducting transactions relating to craigslist or other types of on-line sales situations. We strongly suggest that residents continue to utilize our police department in order to conduct your transactions in a safe and well lighted environment.  We want you to know that our police department is open, staffed and available from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily and we invite you to continue to use this option for your safety and security.

Please contact the Highland Police Department if you are experiencing any ongoing problems of speeding vehicles or other types of traffic violations in your neighborhood.  We take these complaints seriously and are able to enact specific target zones for increased enforcement when we are made aware of problem areas.  

INFO: To register a complaint for a particular area, you may email Cmdr. John Banasiak at [email protected]v or call (219) 838-3184.

The Highland Police Department, in conjunction with the Highland Fire Department, hosted an exercise for over 40 participants on the topic of an “Active Shooter”, highlighting law enforcement’s response to an armed confrontation on campus.  Administrators from the School Town of Highland, as well as administrators from each of the private schools in Highland were in attendance, as was the Deputy Director of the Lake County 911 Center and management of other Town of Highland departments. Click here to learn more.