02162016 - News Article - Becker to leave ECPD after four years as chief

Becker to leave ECPD after four years as chief
NWI Times
Feb 16, 2016
nwitimes.com/news/local/lake/becker-to-leave-ecpd-after-four-years-as-chief/article_17481b67-83e0-5bec-97af-c7b17e3c9868.html
After four years at the helm of a Police Department once perceived as among the Region's most corrupt, former FBI agent-turned-Police Chief Mark Becker plans to step down.

Becker said East Chicago has taken significant steps toward his goal of making the Police Department he once investigated one of the most professional and respected in Northwest Indiana, but there's more work to be done.

Still, he said crime was reduced to the lowest levels since record-keeping began in 1985 and officers are now promoted solely on the basis of merit, without the influence of politics.

"Overall, we accomplished what we set out to do," he said. "It's not a victory. I did what I told the mayor I would do: begin the rebuilding and rebirth, if you will, of a professional police department."

Becker plans to resign effective March 4 to spend more time with his family. Mayor Anthony Copeland has not named a replacement.

Becker started his 40-year law enforcement career at age 18, working as a clerk in the FBI's Milwaukee Division. After five years there, he went to the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, and served in Covington, Kentucky, New York City, and Washington, D.C., before arriving in Northwest Indiana in 1987.

He rose to senior supervisory resident agent at the bureau's Merrillville office, overseeing the violent crime program for 21 counties in Indiana and the Gang Response Investigative Team task force.

He retired from the FBI in December 2007 and was sworn in the next day as chief of police in Portage, where he spent four years. Copeland appointed Becker police chief in February 2012, eight months after its former mayor and police chief, George Pabey, was sentenced to five years in prison for corruption.

Becker said his history of investigating East Chicago police officers while working for the FBI was among the challenges he faced in becoming police chief.

"The GRIT task force had previously arrested one East Chicago police officer for taking money while on duty to go purchase crack cocaine, and we had other investigations at least naming other people in the department," he said.

"It was a challenge to go into that environment, not only as an outsider and a former FBI agent, but perhaps perceived by some to not exactly be friendly, or maybe a threat," Becker said. "But we survived. Those concerns have been overcome."

Becker said Copeland kept a promise to no longer allow politics to claim influence over the Police Department.

The city doubled the amount of money spent on police training, and officers have taken advantage of those opportunities, he said.

Shortly before Becker joined East Chicago, members of Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 59 in December 2011 approved by a 2-1 margin a plan to create the Police Merit Commission to ensure fairness in department hiring, firing and promotions.

Becker said the department has hired 28 officers in the past four years, and the commission for the first time in city history promoted officers last year based solely on the basis of merit.

The commission also has made some tough disciplinary decisions, he said. At least two officers resigned in the middle of internal investigations, and the commission terminated another officer's employment after he was accused of driving drunk and leaving the scene of a crash.

Overall, Becker said the department has not had a lot of disciplinary problems.

"There were no job descriptions in place on arrival and no standards or annual evaluations of performance," Becker said.

Expectations were set, and officers performed, he said.

Becker, who knocked on doors in Gary with the GRIT Task Force in the 1990s to build relationships with residents, said East Chicago police have worked hard in the past four years to connect with their community.

Officers have walked the city's neighborhoods and knocked on hundreds of doors, established a Citizen's Police Academy, and increased their presence with traffic stops and community events.

"Whether sworn or support, this is a proud police department," Becker said.