Portage Police Department

The Portage Police Department in Indiana dates to 1959 and works around the clock, and its patrol crews, each supervised by a lieutenant working with a sergeant and corporal, answer calls, open preliminary investigations and enforce traffic laws. A SWAT team formed in 1996 pairs police officers with firefighter-paramedics for hostage rescues, barricaded subjects, high-risk warrants and crowd control, while dual-purpose canine teams track suspects, search buildings, detect narcotics and give school demonstrations. Crash investigators and reconstructionists bring drones, accelerometers and a 3D scanner to serious and fatal collisions, and a crime scene unit gathers fingerprints and DNA for detectives and manages the crime lab and evidence vault. Other assignments include highway interdiction, crisis negotiators, a bomb squad, a drone team and the Porter County MEG and interdiction teams. A Social Work Division adds social work practice to crisis response and follow-up support, and animal control officers pick up stray dogs, investigate bites and register dogs and cats for city tags. The records office handles crash reports, VIN checks and fingerprinting. Hiring and promotion fall under a Police Merit Board created under Indiana Code 36-8-3.5.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau (ACS 2023), Portage city, IN has an estimated population of 37,951.