EDITOR’S NOTE: An open house for Capt. Worek will be held at the Silver Palace in early January (date and time to be announced) to celebrate his service to the City of LaPorte.
(Press release and photo provided)
Capt. Bill Worek
Captain Bill Worek of the LaPorte City Police Department will be retiring after nearly 31 years with the department. His last work day is Dec. 19, 2014, and his official last day is Jan. 1, 2015.
Worek graduated in 1978 from Michigan City Rogers High School, where he was class president. After graduation he joined the United States Marine Corps and served four years with HMX-1, the President’s Helicopter Squadron in Quantico, VA, serving for Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. Upon his honorable discharge from the Marines he returned to Michigan City. Worek said that he had applied and undergone testing for the Michigan City Police Department, Indiana State Police and the LaPorte City Police Department. He waited to hear from these agencies but after several months of no response from them, he decided to move to California with some friends. Just two weeks before his departure to California, he received a letter from the LaPorte City Police Department and decided to take the job. The rest is history.
Worek started at the department on April 6, 1984. Over the years he has had various responsibilities there. After two years on the department he was placed in the Detective Bureau as a juvenile officer. In 1990 he became the first DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) Officer in our area. He worked with all eight elementary schools in the LaPorte Community Schools and also at St. Joseph and St. John schools. He said his work as a DARE officer was one of the most rewarding jobs he had. Worek, affectionately known as “Officer Bill” by the youngsters he interacted with, was presented the Officer of the Year Award in 1991 for his work with DARE. “Not too many days go by that I don’t have someone call me Officer Bill or ask if I remember them from DARE,” he said. “It was a great way for the children to see an officer up close and to learn that he is a friend.” Worek worked again in the Detective Bureau after DARE and also worked in the Patrol Division. Following his promotion to the rank of captain, he was records captain for four years.
Worek has worked for eight different chiefs and five different mayors. He most recently has served as day shift supervisor, a position he has held for seven years.
Worek said one the things he will miss the most is the camaraderie among his fellow officers and at the Fraternal Order of Police. He was secretary/treasurer for the union for 14 years and served as president of FOP Lodge 54 for two years. He was pension secretary for the LaPorte City Police Pension Board for 12 of his 16 years on the board. Presently Worek serves as the Indiana State FOP Pension Committee chairman and also is on the Board of Directors of the LaPorte Employees Municipal Credit Union, where he serves as vice chairman.
Worek plans to stay in the area and start a second career.