(La Porte, IN) - La Porte Mayor Tom Dermody has revealed a desire to hire more police officers to clamp down further on drug dealers.

 

Dermody said he might not be taken seriously on his goal of “winning the war on drugs” in the city, but he thinks it’s possible and is just as committed to doing that since campaigning on that pledge before first elected mayor in 2019.

 

During last night’s La Porte City Council meeting, Dermody announced he wants to hire more police officers but there’s not enough funds in the city budget to afford it.

 

He said the cost of each new officer, including benefits, would be about $150,000.  However, Dermody said he’s thinking out of the box to try and find ways to finance such a price tag.

 

“We’re going to find those dollars in a creative way to make sure we have a force that can be aggressive to winning the war on drugs,” he said.

 

Since becoming mayor, the number of officers at the police department has been practically restored with help from money generated by a new countywide public safety tax.

 

Dermody spearheaded the charge for establishing the tax to increase the pay of police officers to keep them from continuing to leave for other higher paying departments.

 

Under Dermody, the police department has also added a social worker to the front lines of the drug war by helping to secure treatment for users.

 

Dermody, who’s approached suspected drug dealers himself to discourage their activities, said he doesn’t believe it would take long to further strengthen manpower at the police department because of the number of officers already expressing a desire to work here.

 

He said part of his strategy is to turn up the heat enough on drug dealers for them to leave and not come here.