More officers leave IMPD than expected
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – With five months until January, more officers this year have left Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department than its leaders projected for all of 2018.
IMPD expected 69 officers to leave this year and, so far, 82 have left. Seventy-three officers left in 2017.
City leaders also set a goal to find 60 IMPD recruits for the first of two recruit classes this year. They wound up with 49, in part because of a lack of qualified applicants, said Deputy Chief Chris Bailey.
“We have a really good economy. There’s a national black cloud, if you want to say, over policing and that steers people away from this profession,” Bailey said.
The smaller class and the 82 officers leaving IMPD creates an uphill battle for city leaders.
The mayor’s office said it is still committed to replacing officers that leave and adding 31 more officers every year.
A city spokesperson said the size of this year’s second recruit class could increase to make up for the officers who left.
“What we don’t want to do is get into a position where we’re lowering our standards just to fill seats,” Bailey said.
Indianapolis Fraternal Order of Police president Rick Snyder said he expects IMPD to end the year with fewer officers than they started with. He said low morale is one reason officers are leaving departments across the country.
Some of the officers had already planned to retire well in advance.
“We need to take every step we can not to give them something but to take the challenges out of their way if at all possible,” Snyder said.
The IMPD Training Academy is holding the Women Behind The Badge workshop to try to draw more female recruits. It will be from 9:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Aug. 11 at 901 N. Post Road.
The academy is also hosting a running club that works out on Tuesdays to get potential officers in shape for fitness tests.
“We have to have people that are qualified to do the job,” Bailey said. “If we don’t have that, then we’ll be short of that number.”
People interested in joining IMPD can find information on the city’s website.
