🔍 TRANSPARENCY REPORT: The Contrast in Lawrence County Public Communications

As part of our ongoing mission at Lawrence County Watchdog to keep our community informed, we routinely reach out to local government officials, agency heads, and law enforcement command staff with questions regarding budgets, community safety strategies, and public logistics.

Over the past several months, we want to give credit where credit is due. The vast majority of our local county and state agencies have been incredibly open, responsive, and willing to answer questions. A big thank you goes out to:

• The Lawrence County Sheriff's Department
• The Lawrence County Prosecutor's Office
• The Lawrence County Probation Department
• The Lawrence County Clerk's Office
• Lawrence County Superior Court I & II
• The Lawrence County Public Defender’s Agency
• The Indiana State Police
• The Indiana Supreme Court
• The Lawrence County Auditor's office

All of these offices have consistently demonstrated a commitment to transparency when requests are submitted.

However, we have hit a complete wall when it comes to the City of Bedford.

Back on May 2nd, 2026, we reached out directly to the Bedford Police Department. Acknowledging that public records reporting can sometimes cause friction, we extended a hand with a constructive project idea aimed at highlighting our local BPD officers and the people behind the uniform planning to feature them first, followed by Mitchell PD and LCSD. We received no answer.

Furthermore, we sent a formal inquiry to Bedford Mayor Sam Craig back in March asking critical structural questions that many local residents have been asking about:

1. BPD Officer Retention: Why the city is experiencing a trend of officers leaving shortly after being hired, and what is being done to protect the tax dollars invested in their training.
2. Command Strategy: How frequently the administration meets with Chief Terry Moore to address staffing budgets and specific strategies for ongoing drug and property crime issues.
3. Ticket Revenue: An educational breakdown of how citation revenue is handled and how much actually returns to the City of Bedford to support local services.
4. Fire & Medical Response Strain: The city's long-term plan to support Bedford Firefighters who are taking on a increased volume of medical calls due to the current strain on local ambulance services.

To date, we have received absolutely zero response from the Mayor’s office or BPD command. NOTE: APRA request that have been sent to the City of Bedford have been responded to by the Mayor's Secretary.

As taxpayers, the public funds the city's administration, the police department, and the fire department. When every single county and state agency can provide open communication to public inquiries, it begs the question: Why is the City of Bedford keeping the doors closed?

We will keep our lines of communication open, and we welcome Mayor Craig or Chief Moore to sit down and answer these important community questions at any time.