New North Judson Town Marshal Introduced, Officer Reinstated

Posted on July 19, 2016
Author Michael Gallenberger, WKVI 

North Judson officially has a new town marshal. John Ramos was formally introduced to the public during Monday’s town council meeting. “I am deeply honored that I was actually chosen to take over your police department in your community,” he said. “I look forward to serving you guys and to making this place – you can’t make it much safer, but keep the peace and make this place is the safest community that you could possibly ask for.”

Ramos told North Judson residents Monday he’s currently a staff instructor at the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy, “I teach handgun, shotgun, rifle, preventive patrol, building searches, report writing. And before that, I was an East Chicago Police officer. I was an East Chicago Police officer for approximately 26 years. And before that, I was a Cedar Lake Police officer for approximately a year-and-a-half.” Ramos adds that he’s written articles for various publications and also authored “The Book of Room Domination and Assault Techniques.”

He’s expected to take over as North Judson town marshal next Monday, filling the vacancy created by the death of former marshal Doug Vessely in April. Since then, officer Frank Thomas has been serving in an interim capacity.

During Monday’s meeting, Thomas congratulated Ramos on his hiring. “That’s a lot of stuff he’s got under his belt that he’s going to bring to town, so I know as a department, we’re pretty excited about that,” he said. “As a community, you should be pretty excited about that. We’re going to be picking his brains pretty good for the foreseeable future.”

Also during the meeting, the North Judson Town Council voted unanimously to rescind the suspension of police officer Joe Budner, and reinstate him with the police department as of next Monday. However, council members said it will be up to Ramos to decide if Budner will return to his previous position of chief deputy. The reason for the suspension has not been released publicly.

North Judson Town Marshal John Ramos and Officer Frank Thomas