Since 2012, Gary Police have responded nearly 400 times for reports of fights, disturbances, missing persons or runaways from the Crisis Center, a residential treatment facility for teens in Gary, Ind., NBC Chicago’s Bennett Haeberle reports.
Since 2012, Gary Police have responded nearly 400 times for reports of fights, disturbances, missing persons or runaways from the Crisis Center, a residential treatment facility for teens in Gary, Ind. – a months-long investigation by NBC 5 Investigates revealed.
NBC 5 Investigates found nearly half of those calls for service – or more than 200 - were for missing persons or runaway teens, a figure authorities acknowledge is likely an undercount.
As part of our investigation, NBC 5 Investigates requested and reviewed 10 years’ worth of police runs to the facility as well as 911 audio and several hours’ worth of body camera footage since Gary Police began using the cameras this summer.
The records revealed a recurring pattern of problems at the facility.
In 2023 alone, there were 24 reports of missing persons or runaways at the Crisis Center.
And the recordings themselves were telling - police can be heard voicing their frustrations on their body cameras – including one sergeant who called the Crisis Center “a pointless facility” and another officer who can be heard saying it was “rough.”
The Crisis Center accepts children ages 12 to 20 for both temporary and long-term care. According to its website, children can be referred to the facility from the Indiana Department of Child Services and the state’s juvenile justice system. Others there have problems at home or a history of running away.
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During one conversation with workers, a Gary Police sergeant can be heard saying: “I’m not trying to be funny, but what is it that y’all do here?”
His remark came as officers were there to take a runaway report but workers were interested in having the officers lecture an unruly teen in the next room.
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The police records raise questions about the activities inside the facility and how the children there are behaving and being watched.
While some police reports and body camera footage did make references to teens returning, the records did not make clear how often this happened, how quickly the teens were recovered or if there were instances in which children remained missing.
The facility’s executive director would not agree to an on-camera interview and did not answer those questions.
The Indiana Department of Child Services spokesman would not answer NBC 5 Investigates’ questions about if DCS was aware of how many children have eloped in the past decade. NBC 5 Investigates filed a public records request to find out. That request is still pending.
Online records show over the past decade the Crisis Center has inked contracts with Indiana state agencies like DCS worth a total of more than $5 million, according to the state’s online contracts portal.
The facility’s executive director Marion Collins did not answer NBC 5 Investigates follow-up questions about the sheer volume of incidents or what efforts the facility has undertake to address these incidents.
In an emailed statement, Collins said this:
“The Crisis Center is a non-profit organization located in Gary, IN. We have been providing youth services since the 1970s. We prioritize the safety and well-being, physically and emotionally, of our clients. The Crisis Center is an emergency shelter for at-risk youth. We provide shelter, food, care, therapeutic and educational services to at-risk youth between the ages of 12 and 20 years of age who have either run away from home, been displaced from home or are removed from their homes by The Department of Child Services (DCS) or children that are placed through the Juvenile Probation System.
We are a licensed, open residential emergency shelter that provides an environment that is therapeutic and focused on trauma-informed care for our kids. As such, the kids are not in custody or detention at the Crisis Center. Our staff at the Crisis Center are certified in CPI (Crisis Prevention Institute). CPI is an evidence-based de-escalation and crisis prevention training. CPI is designed to change behaviors reducing conflict for the care, welfare, safety and security of our clients while utilizing a crisis prevention approach. It is our policy for the safety of our children if a child elopes from our shelter and leaves our property that we immediately call the local police to ensure they can be located as quickly as possible and returned safely to our facility.”
We cannot address specifics concerning any particular resident or situation to maintain the confidentiality of our clients.”
A mother's concern
On Labor Day weekend, body camera footage from Gary Police shows officers looking – but not finding – a 17-year old runaway named Alexx.
In an interview during late September, Alexx’s mother, Crystel Myers told NBC 5 Investigates that her son walked away from the facility Labor Day weekend but was not discovered for three days.
And it was her family – and not police – who ultimately found Alexx wandering the streets of Gary.
“I was very upset and I was demanding answers and calling and calling and calling…” Crystel Myers said during her interview with NBC 5 Investigates.
(Reporter’s note: Crystel Myers died in November while NBC 5 Investigates was still conducting research for this story. Her family made it clear she wanted her story to be shared).
Alexx’s journey to the Crisis Center began after series of incidents back home in Greenfield, Indiana, which ultimately left him in the custody of Indiana’s Department of Child Services.
“He tried to stab me a year and a half ago at 15. So he had to stay with his dad. I understand again, my reality is not something that everyone understands. But again, I don't have to endorse it, I just have to accept it,” Myers said at the time of our interview.
Myer’s sister confirmed she witnessed the incident and Greenfield Police acknowledge a run to Crystel’s house involving a juvenile in 2022 but did not provide further detail.
At the time of our interview, Crystel told us her son was missing for two days before she was notified, which is what prompted her family to drive more three hours from outside Indianapolis all the way to Gary.
Body camera footage also captured this – Gary police questioning why the facility waited nearly an hour to call them after Alexx had run away.
Gary Police Officer: “Why are you just now calling it in …”
Crisis Center Worker: “Because we normally give them 30 minutes before we call the police. (Because) half the time they are run, they go right there to the playground and on the premises when you’ll call, they be on the premises.”
NBC 5 Investigates found this wasn’t an isolated.
During another incident captured on body camera footage, police discuss another teen who ran away 30 minutes after she was brought over from the Lake County juvenile detention center.
During the conversation, the Gary Police officer can be heard asking: “She was allowed just to walk out?”
The Crisis Center worker replied: “You said was she allowed to walk out?”
Another officer says: “Yeah. I mean she was on suicide watch??”
The Crisis Center worker replies: “She wasn’t on suicide watch here, she was on suicide watch there. Not here.
“Did you do a suicide screen on her?,” the officer asked.
To which the Crisis Center worker said: “No, she wasn’t here long enough to do anything with her.”
NBC 5 Investigates obtained this footage through a series of public records requests that also uncovered the dozens of fights and disturbances.
NBC 5 Investigates learned Crystel’s son was moved to a more secure facility in Indiana where he continues to get treatment.
For months, we’ve been asking to the see billing records to understand how much in state Medicaid money is flowing back to the facility.
We’re told our request is still pending.
