Make wishtv.com your home page

Body scanner coming to Tippecanoe County Jail

TIPPECANOE CO. Ind., (WLFI) – A body scanner will soon be making its way into the Tippecane County Jail.

Sheriff Barry Richard made the announcement at the Tippecanoe County Council meeting Tuesday morning.

He hopes to have the scanner up and running over the next three to four months.

Richard said the close to $200,000 cost will come from the commissary funds.

The push for this scanner comes after three correctional officers were exposed to narcotics at the jail in January.

Richard said this will help keep everyone at the jail safe.

“Obviously you want to keep it out of the jails,” said Richard. “We are restricting different things and having very thorough searches, but sometimes an individual may bring in drugs within their body cavity. So really the only way to combat that is to have a body scanner.”

West Lafayette Police Chief Jason Dombkowski is a trustee for the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute and running for sheriff.

He said grant money could be used to pay for the scanner.

The institute has given the money to other jails for that purpose in the past.

Dombkowski encourged the sheriff to apply for the grant instead of using commissary funds for the scanner.

He suggested the commissary funds be used for in-jail treatment programs instead.