Phillip Hawks, right, is sworn in by Winona Lake Town Attorney Adam Turner as a Winona Lake Police officer at the Winona Lake Town Council’s meeting on Tuesday, May 16. Hawks will serve as a student resource officer at Lakeland Christian Academy, the private school’s first full-time SRO.

Text and Photos
By Leah Sander
InkFreeNews

WINONA LAKE — Lakeland Christian Academy is getting a full-time student resource officer, with help from Winona Lake and monies the town received from a national opioid settlement.

At its meeting on Tuesday, May 16, the Winona Lake Town Council approved the hiring of Phillip Hawks for the role. He’s returning to the department after a time away, having served with the WLPD from 2021 to 2022. He worked for the Warsaw Police Department for eight years before that.

Hawks is to make $2,351.41 biweekly.

Winona Lake is to pay all of Hawks’ salary at first, with the school funding 80% of it annually starting in January 2024. The town’s portion is to be paid for with the help of funds from a settlement Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita and other AGs across the nation reached with Johnson & Johnson, Cardinal Health, McKesson and AmerisourceBergen for the companies’ contribution to the national opioid epidemic. Cities and towns in Indiana were able to opt in to receive monies.

Town Attorney Adam Turner did note to InkFreeNews after the meeting that future installments the town receives from the settlement may be used to pay Hawks’ salary. The town is to help Lakeland look for grants to help with the latter’s portion.

Hawks will be the first official SRO at Lakeland, though the private school has had Warsaw and Winona Lake officers serve out there part time when needed.

Though Town Manager Craig Allebach noted that he had been in communication with Lakeland since about 2019 about protecting students, he said Winona Lake Police Department Chief Joe Hawn and Lakeland Superintendent Joe Elrod did discuss the need for an SRO there directly following a recent mass shooting.

Hawks will also teach Drug Abuse Resistance Education to students, with Elrod noting to InkFreeNews after the meeting that it will expand the program from preschool to 12th grade. Previously only a few grades had D.A.R.E.

In the ordinance the council approved Tuesday, creating the role of a second SRO at Lakeland was outlined, though no specific plans were announced for that.

In other business, the council:

• Heard a reminder that the Fat & Skinny Tire Fest runs Friday, May 19, through Sunday, May 21, in Winona Lake and the surrounding area. More information on its events may be found at kcvcycling.org/events/fat-skinny-tire-fest.
• Heard a reminder that The Village at Winona’s Village Art Fair is Saturday, June 3, and Sunday, June 4. More information on events may be found at villageatwinona.com/events/village-art-fair.
• Heard from Winona Lake Parks Department Director Holly Hummitch that among upcoming events for the department is a special Splash Pad Party from 5-7 p.m. Friday, May 26, to mark its opening at Winona Lake Limitless Park for the season. There will be music, treats and giveaways.

The council’s next meeting is 6 p.m. Tuesday, June 20, at Winona Lake Town Hall.

Hawks, fourth from left in the back row, poses for a photo with his family, the Winona Lake Police Department and Lakeland Superintendent Joe Elrod, on the far right in the back row, after being sworn in.