Indiana's Senate Bill 1

There has been a lot of publicity about the new law concerning citizens protecting themselves and their property. Basically the law states that a person has a right to protect themselves in their residence from physical harm, and they do not have to retreat.

Fortunately in Warrick County most of the citizens respect Law Enforcement Officers, and the Law Enforcement Officers respect the citizens Constitutional Rights.

That being said, the law has not changed when it comes to Resisting Law Enforcement. Every citizen should educate themselves concerning the law, as ignorance of the law is no excuse. The Criminal Laws of the State of Indiana can be found by visiting the Secretary of States website or by visiting the State of Indiana website IN.GOV.  

Telephone scams

The telephone scam artists have risen to a new level. Now they have gotten the police involved by telling you that they will call the police if you don't send them the money. They then call the police and have them come by to check on your welfare, or call in a bogus complaint and get the police to come by and investigate. This is all part of their game. If the police show up at your residence unexpected, and you have received telephone calls from someone in the past couple of days wanting you to wire them money, don't be afraid to tell the police about the scam.

Most of the time the people running the scam will request that you wire them money to a foreign country. The will use the story that you have won an international lottery, and that the money goes to pay the taxes. They will also say that a relative has been arrested or been involved in a traffic accident and that you need to wire money to pay legal bills or bail.

Remember, once you wire money it is gone, there will be no refund. Most of these scams are run from a foreign country and the money cannot be traced.

Communicate with your children

Your kids need your guidance every day. Take an active role in their lives and listen to what they have to say. Remind them that the choices that they make today will affect the rest of their lives. Share with them your life experiences and tell them what you learned from your mistakes. Kids today are faced with a lot more challenges than you were at their age. Try to understand their problems and help them deal with their issues. If we can educate the younger generation, maybe we can eliminate the demand for illegal drugs in the future. Without the demand, the supply will take care of itself. If we don't have a drug problem there will be a lot less crime to deal with also.

Meth Lab Activity

Meth Labs continue to be one of the biggest challenges that the law enforcement community faces. There are new methods being used all of the time to manufacture methamphetamine. What used to take several hours has been cut down to a process that only takes an hour. These new one-pot methods are very volatile, and are causing problems within the neighborhoods because they are easy to conceal. They still produce odors that can be detected by the neighbors, but it is for a shorter time period. The smell of amonia, ether, and solvents can all be tell-tale signs of a clandestine meth lab. I urge each of you to be involved in your community and keep an eye on your neighborhood. If you notice these odors in your neighborhood, please report them to the local police department. Your name can be kept confidential. When Law Enforcement get into the area and can pinpoint the building that the odors are coming from, they can at least knock on the door and find out where the odor is coming from.

Keep in mind that your police officers have rules that they have to operate by. This is not always a fast process and may involve a lengthy investigation. Be persistant and stay on top of the problem. Work with us and we will work with you.

Contact your State Legislators and ask them to pass laws restricting the sale of Psuedoephedrine. This is the one ingredient that is necessary to manufacture Methamphetamine. Without it, the local Meth Labs will not exist.

Happy Holidays

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from everyone at the Warrick County Sheriff's Office. If your festivities include alcohol this holday season, please designate a driver that is not consuming alcohol. We do not want anyone's holiday to be spoiled by an arrest or a horrible crash.

Christmas Scams

Beware of holiday shopping scams that seem to be very popular this time of year. Scams like Santa's Helper, and others that use the names of of large retailers will ask you to cash a check or money order, deposit a small portion of the money into your bank account and wire the rest of the money to them in a foreign country. Then to make is seem like a you are helping someone out at the holidays, they ask you to visit a store and purchase gifts for someone that you know needs financial assistance.

In reality, you lost the money that you spent at the department store along with the money that you wired to them because the check or money order was a fraud.

When someone you do not know sends you a check or money order in the mail, you can bet that the money is not yours to keep.

If your gut instinct tells you that this is too good to be true, it is too good to be true. Enjoy the Christmas Season and give from your hearts.

Winter weather driving

Winter weather will be here before we know it. The first time that the roads get slick it seems that everyone is caught off guard. Make your preperations now and you will be one step ahead of everyone else. Make sure that you have an ice scraper in your vehicle. Check the weather before you go to bed at night, and if they are calling for bad weather make sure you get out of bed earlier to allow for cleaning off your vehicle and the additional time that it takes to make the drive to work. Let your vehicle run while you clean the windows, drive slower than normal to allow for slick roads, keep extra distance between you and the vehicle in front of you, allow extra time for stopping, and never use your cruise control on slick roads.

If you take a few precautions you can make it through the winter weather without having to visit the hospital or the body shop.

From all of us at the Warrick County Sheriff's Office, have a safe and happy holiday season!