Lake County Indiana is the second largest in population of the ninety-two counties in the State. Marion, Indianapolis, is the largest County. Lake County covers approximately 501 square miles of the northwest portion of the state and has a population of 484,000. www.stats.indiana.edu

On July 4, 1836 the "Squatters Union of Lake County" was organized for the purpose of adopting measures and forming a constitution for better security of the settlers on public land. The settlers were on the area now known as Fancher Lake. On February 15, 1837 Lake County was organized and Henry Wells was appointed Sheriff by the Governor. It was said that Wells walked to Indianapolis to receive his commission and returned on foot, a two week trip each way. Wells was commissioned on March 8, 1837. On March 28th the first county commissioners were elected. In April they met and instructed the sheriff to prevent anyone from removing pine timber from public school lands. They also appointed the sheriff as collector of state and county revenues.

The first general election was held in August of 1837 and Luman Fowler was duly elected Sheriff. Rogelio "Roy" Dominguez, the current administrator, is the 48th Sheriff of Lake County.

In the fall of 1882, a two-story sheriff's house measuring 40 by 34 feet, and a jail, 120 by 50 feet, were completed on the south Main Street site at a cost of $24,000. It featured six steel cells for males, four steel cells for females, bathrooms and strong steel corridors. An addition to the back of the jail measuring 65 by 50 feet, was built in 1926 which included sheriff's corridors and a third floor. The jail could now accommodate a maximum of 150 prisoners and was thought to be one of the finest in the state.

The current Lake County Jail, located at 2293 North Main Street, was occupied on January 5, 1975. This facility has five floors and was constructed to house 286 inmates. It cost approximately $13.5 million to build.

In January of 1991 an $8 million addition brought the capacity to 460 inmates.

The average daily population is 525 inmates. In the spring of 1999, construction was begun on an addition to that jail and it was completed in October 2000. This new addition is constructed in a series of "pods".

Each pod contains cells located on two levels within the pod. In the pods, all cell doors open into a communal day room where an inmate spends 14-16 hours per day. The biggest contrast between the existing jail and the podular model is the way supervision is accomplished. In the older jail correctional officers could only supervise inmates by frequent foot patrols through the sections. With the podular concept correctional officers are located in a secure area behind one-way glass. Officers are in direct visual contact with all activity in the pod at all times. This provided 560 additional beds for a total of 1,085 beds.

The Sheriff, as law enforcement officer, is responsible for crime prevention, patrol, traffic enforcement, criminal investigation, scientific evidence collection, arrest of criminals,searches and seizures and all other requirements of contemporary police work.

The Sheriff's Department employs 174 sworn police officers, 179 corrections officers and 156 civilians. The salary range for police is $31,556 for patrolman to $41,201 for commander. Corrections officer's salary is $28,054 for correctional officer to $36,060 for Deputy Warden.