Gary Bailiff in Spotlight
The Post-Tribune reports, “Gary court may see bailiff on trial.”
A retired Gary police officer working as a city court bailiff could wind up as a defendant in the courtroom where he works.
He faces charges of harassment and intimidation stemming from an illegal traffic stop he made here last month.
The bailiff carries full police powers, courtesy of a deputy commission — one of hundreds — issued by Lake County Sheriff Roy Dominguez.
But even sworn officers cannot make a traffic stop in an unmarked car while wearing civilian clothes.
Days after Gary City Court Judge Deidre Monroe learned of the Sept. 19 incident, she issued a memo to all her bailiffs reminding them that Indiana law requires officers stopping a driver for a traffic offense must be either wearing an identifiable uniform or be driving a clearly marked police car.
The statute in question is Ind. Code 9-30-2-2 which reads
A law enforcement officer may not arrest or issue a traffic information and summons to a person for a violation of an Indiana law regulating the use and operation of a motor vehicle on an Indiana highway or an ordinance of a city or town regulating the use and operation of a motor vehicle on an Indiana highway unless at the time of the arrest the officer is:
(1) wearing a distinctive uniform and a badge of authority; or
(2) operating a motor vehicle that is clearly marked as a police vehicle;
that will clearly show the officer or the officer’s vehicle to casual observations to be an officer or a police vehicle.
