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Frame strength; holder named
Lakeville keeps its own police department, headed by Patrick J. Howard under two titles the record uses interchangeably. The statutory office for an Indiana town is the town marshal (IC 36-5-7); the department is the Lakeville Police Department. Its head is Patrick J. Howard, in the office continuously in the reached record from at least 2014 through 2025: a 2015 decision of the Indiana Court of Appeals styles him "Police Chief Patrick Howard," answering a January 2014 call with an officer of the department; the county's 2017 multi-hazard mitigation plan lists "Patrick Howard, Marshal, Lakeville Police Department"; the State's salary records style him Town Marshal in 2021 and 2022 and Police Chief in 2023 and 2025 (2024 reads simply "Police"); the town's minutes of May 2025 call him "Chief Patrick Howard." The holder is the same man on all carriers; the title varies, and both titles print, no record reached stating a formal retitling. His deputy in 2025 is Brandon Lent (salary records, "Deputy Marshall," spelling as carried). The department's scale stands in the January 2026 minutes' report of December 2025: 119 calls for service, 12 assists to the St. Joseph County Police, 3 reports, 1 ticket — the county police assisting the town department, not the reverse; the town is not under county-only coverage.