Schererville Board of Safety certifies 2025 police hiring list, closes emergency hire; approves promotion and use-of-force update

The Schererville Board of Safety voted unanimously Thursday to close an emergency hire process, certify an 11-person police eligibility list for 2025, promote a patrol officer to second-class and approve edits to the police use-of-force policy tied to new handheld electronic weapons.

Board members closed the emergency hire process after the police department reported it had reached authorized staffing strength. Deputy Chief Steve McNamara presented the recommendation and the board approved the motion by roll call; all members voted yes.

The board also certified a new hiring eligibility list compiled after written exams, physical agility testing and oral boards. McNamara said the list contains 11 candidates; he asked the board to sign the certification for the 2025 list. The motion to accept the list passed unanimously.

The board approved a time promotion for Officer Bancstra, advancing him from class patrolman to second class with an effective date of June 23, 2025. Letters of recommendation from supervisors and the patrol commander were included in the file provided to members.

Police Chief Peter Sormoz asked the board to accept updates to the department's use-of-force policy intended to clarify nomenclature and classification for newly purchased handheld electronic weapons. Attorney Christian Bartholomew had reviewed the revisions, Sormoz said, and the board passed the updated policy to ensure alignment with accreditation expectations.

The board was also notified that Corporal Tim Milley submitted a retirement letter under the department's deferred retirement option plan; Milley's last date was provided as March 2026. The retirement was entered for the record and required no board action.

In department reports, Chief Sormoz proposed a scheduling change: future study sessions will begin at 5:00 p.m. with the regular meeting to follow at 5:10 p.m. He said the adjustment is intended to reduce the gap between study sessions and the public meeting; the board discussed logistics but no formal vote to change the published meeting schedule appears in the transcript.

Votes at a glance

- Approval of minutes (April 3, 2025): approved by roll call (unanimous). Action: approval of minutes. - Close emergency hire process (fire/police staffing measure previously authorized): passed by roll call (unanimous). Motion mover recorded in the discussion as Robert Volkmann; no second recorded in the transcript. Outcome: passed. - Certify 2025 police eligibility/hiring list (11 candidates): passed by roll call (unanimous). Mover identified in discussion as Robert Volkmann. Outcome: passed. - Promotion: Officer Bancstra to second-class patrolman, effective 06/23/2025: passed by roll call (unanimous). Outcome: passed. - Use-of-force policy update (nomenclature, handheld electronic weapons, CALEA alignment): passed by roll call (unanimous). Outcome: passed.

The board's roll-call votes were recorded as unanimous for these items with members listed on the transcript as Eric Graff, George Koros, David Enningenberg, David Jarazewski and Robert Volkmann participating in votes and discussion.

The board distinguished between formal actions and informational items: the certification, the promotion and the policy update were formal votes; the retirement letter was recorded for notification only. Chief Sormoz and Deputy Chief McNamara provided documentation and recommendations for each action.

The meeting continued with departmental reports and routine business after the votes; no additional policy or budget actions were taken during the items covered here.