Area students benefit from veteran police officer's experience
By Debbie Lowe

Hatke

Sometimes the planets align, the stars cross and a good thing happens for all involved. That's what happened when Delphi Community School Corporation, in conjunction with the Indian Trails Career Cooperative, came together with r e t i r e d L a f a y e t t e P o l i c e D e p a r t m e n t ( L P D ) L i e u t e n a n t Chico Hatke. Hatke is teaching a new course on law enforcement for area high school students.

Hatke

During his 23 years at LPD, Hatke rose from patrol to lieutenant in administrative services there and was the training coordinator.

"I'm excited about the opportunity to use my law enforcement background in the classroom atmosphere," Hatke stated. "I've always enjoyed teaching and it's exciting to think that I might be part of the development of the future of law enforcement with this program."

The goal of the class is to provide insight for students to understand what is involved in the field of law enforcement "to see if that's what they want to do."

"It's more than catching bad guys and throwing them in jail," Hatke said. "My goal is to make this an involved and interactive class experience. I want the students to see all facets of law enforcement."

Getting the real deal...a real cop and a real car Students enrolled in the law enforcement class offered at Delphi Community High School will learn how traffic stops are made, tools of the police trade and officer safety with the aid of a black and white police car. Course instructor, retired Lafayette Police Department officer Chico Hatke, stands next to a car similar to the one to be used in the course. Comet photo by Debbie Lowe5

According to Carroll Consolidated School Corporation Superintendent John Sayers, Indian Trails, of which Carroll and Delphi school corporations are members, have been considering law enforcement as a vocational course for three to four years, but it took some time to bring the course to fruition.

There are 11 school corporations in the co-op, according to Dan Grayson, Indian Trails director. Students from Carroll, Delphi, Twin Lakes, Frontier, Tri-County and North White are able to participate in the program, housed at DCHS.

"We offer skills that lead to careers," he said. "Whenever we develop a program, we house it where the most interest is located."

"There's been an interest for this course expressed by students," Sayers said. "And now it is available to them close to home. I'm really glad our students have the opportunity to take the course."

"I hope to see the course numbers grow, he continued. "And I think that depends on the instructor being able to engage more interested students."

Delphi Community High School Principal Barry Stone has a positive impression about the course and the instructor.

"I think it's an excellent opportunity for both our students and students in surrounding schools."

When course plans were approved, Hatke happened to be ending his tenure with LPD. With a bachelor's degree in industrial arts instruction and a master's degree in industrial technology from Purdue University, he was considered a good fit as course instructor. He is also an adjunct instructor for Purdue University in organizational leadership and supervision.

Hatke said he intends to cover areas of crime scene investigation, tools of the police trade, how traffic stops are made, officer safety, report writing, internal investigations and patrol operations. Jail tours and presentations by locals who work in the field are on the drawing board as well. To facilitate learning, Indian Trails is providing Hatke with a marked police car.

Hatke's class consists of 18 students from Twin Lakes, Carroll, Delphi and Tri-County school corporations. The full-year course meets daily for two periods. He said he expects the course to expand to full-time and become more advanced in subject matter next year. "Hopefully we are going to

breed good law enforcement officers for down the road," he said. "We want this course to be meaningful and valuable for students whether they go on to the law enforcement field or not." Hatke lives in the outskirts of

Lafayette, has been married for 30 years and has two sons, ages 19 and 22.

Parents and students can obtain more information about the course by contacting the high school's main office at (765) 564-3481.