The police department: a founding anchor

1899 – today

From marshal to department: The charter of 1899 gave the city an elected marshal — the whole of its law enforcement in the charter's text, as the Story of Mishawaka section carries it. The regular police department dates from the settlement of 1904: De Kever's account of the Public Utilities Company agreement says plainly that it "enabled the city to acquire regular police and fire departments." The department this section can first describe whole is the one the 1921 directory prints: headquarters in City Hall at 204 East First Street, under Chief Valentine J. Pfender, with Benjamin Jarrett as assistant chief, John Jarrett as desk sergeant, and a roll of named patrolmen covering a five-ward factory town; the Board of Public Safety, which governed the department, met at City Hall. One episode of the department's early life enters this record only as politics: the shooting of two Belgian residents by a member of the force was a public charge against the Gaylor administration in the campaign of 1917, printed in the Gaylor entry as election record; the episode itself belongs to the crime and controversies records. The department's modern anchors are two: in the fall of 2022 it moved with the rest of the government into 100 Lincolnway West, and in September 2023 the Common Council approved twelve-hour shifts for its officers, under Chief Ken Witkowski Jr. The succession of chiefs, the growth of the force, and the department's full course belong to the coming fire & safety treatment; this entry is its founding anchor, at the size the assignment sets.

Sources:

1. R. L. Polk & Co., South Bend City Directory (1921) — the police department at City Hall, 204 E. First; Chief V. J. Pfender, Assistant Chief Benjamin Jarrett, desk sergeant John Jarrett and the patrol roll; the Board of Public Safety.
2. Peter J. De Kever, Mishawaka: A History — the 1904 utilities agreement enabling regular police and fire departments.
3. City of Mishawaka news release, 21 September 2023 — the Common Council's approval of twelve-hour shifts for Mishawaka police officers; Chief Ken Witkowski Jr.
4. The Story of Mishawaka section fragment of this build — the 1899 charter's elected marshal; the police consolidated into 100 Lincolnway West in 2022.