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Long Beach police say license‑plate readers helped locate suicidal man; department outlines equipment, grant and staffing updates
Summary
The department reported that LPRs helped officers locate a 44‑year‑old who texted his mother "I am very suicidal right now," leading to his transport for evaluation. The commission also noted an ATV replacement, a planned 2027 patrol vehicle request, a portable radio grant in early review, an EV vehicle grant denial, and a reduced Reserve Deputy unit.
Corporal Matthew Farthing of the Long Beach Police Department located a vehicle using the department’s recently installed FLOCK license‑plate reader system and coordinated with LaPorte County E911, Trail Creek and Michigan City officers to find a 44‑year‑old who had been reported missing and in need of a welfare check, the commission record says.
The person’s mother told responding officers that her son had texted a family member, "I am very suicidal right now," and she asked officers to check his residence. After the vehicle’s movements were traced via the license‑plate reader, officers found the subject at a convenience store and transported him to Franciscan Hospital for a mental‑health evaluation, the report states. The meeting noted that the outcome prompted gratitude from the mother.
Chief Mark J. Swistek’s report included cost context for the technology: the town pays $3,000 per LPR camera per year — $12,000 annually for four cameras — and the department framed that expense against the life‑safety result described to the commission.
The meeting record also listed several equipment and staffing updates: the department received a new 2026 Yamaha 750cc ATV after a $4,000 donation from the Long Beach Civic Association and an expected $2,100 trade‑in for the 2011 unit; Corporal Farthing upfitted the ATV with emergency lights and a siren. The department plans to research a 2027 replacement patrol vehicle to be assigned to Deputy Marshal Matthew Vopat and said it will present the request to the town council in November or December 2026 as part of the five‑year capital plan.
Separately, the department said it applied for $65,000 in portable radio funding through Congressman Frank Mrvan’s community project funding request and that the application had passed the first of three review hurdles. The record also states that an application to the Indiana Office of Energy Development for three electric police vehicles (requested $248,000 with a $48,000 matching‑funds request) was denied. The Reserve Deputy unit, which recently numbered seven members, has dropped to four after three members left for full‑time law enforcement positions; the department plans recruitment this fall.
No public comments were recorded and the commission did not take formal votes on these items at the July 2 meeting.
