On December 5, 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Presidential Proclamation #2065, officially declaring that the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was replaced by the 21st Amendment. The 21st Amendment repealed Prohibition and gave each state the power to regulate the trafficking of alcoholic beverages within its borders. On March 17, 1933 Governor Paul McNutt appointed Linton businessman Paul Frye to head the newly-created Excise Department, which the legislature created to administer and enforce the state’s alcoholic beverage laws.
Director Frye would later name Ray Hinkle of Bloomington to be the first chief of the Excise Police. The son of a police officer, the thirty-four year old Hinkle had previously served as his hometown’s first motorcycle officer, a Detroit Police Department Detective, an Indiana Reformatory guard, an Indiana University Police Officer and as a Lieutenant with the Indiana State Police. Hinkle initially oversaw twenty-one “liquor police” officers who included four former state policemen and three ex-sheriffs. Since Chief Hinkle seventeen men and one woman have directed the Department.
On March 31, 2006 twenty-seven officers graduated from Recruit School 2006-16. The new recruits raised the department staffing level total to ninety-one sworn officers, the highest level in sixty years. In 2007 officers made 8,480 arrests, investigated 1,224 complaints, cited 920 permit locations for violations, and gave 796 public information programs.
Indiana State Excise Police Superintendents
On April 10, 1985, Governor Robert Orr signed House Bill 1203 into law, granting full police powers to excise officers.
- Ray Hinkle, Bloomington 1935
- Homer Stonebraker, Logansport 1937
- Edward Britton, Logansport 1939
- Ralph Howard, Roachdale 1941
- Ernest G. Minniear, Gary 1943
- Philip Stiegerwald, Fort Wayne 1948
- C.B. France, Petersburg 1950
- Homer Gehrett, Rushville 1953
- Charles Miller, Brookston 1954
- George Rinck, Alexandria 1957
- Marion Arvin, Loogootee 1961
- Abe Taylor, West Lafayette 1965
- John A. Hudson, Indianapolis 1969
- Phil Sanders, Indianapolis 1973
- Don Okey, Indianapolis 1990
- Danny East, Shelbyville 1995
- Gene Honeycutt, Indianapolis 1996
- Penny Davis, Indianapolis 1998
- Alex Huskey, Marion 2004