A Lot of Chiefs and a Few Disgruntled Indians
Today I attended the inauguration ceremony of the new Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department. The ceremony itself was fairly routine, how the circumstances surrounding it were not. The merger of the Indianapolis Police Department and the Marion County Sheriff’s Department has, in the words of fellow pundit Matthew Tully of Indianapolis Star, been a marriage the parents wanted, but kids did not. I’ll take it one step further, it was a marriage that was necessary, but ain’t over yet.
It’s no big secret the rank and file of both departments are not big fans of the merger. A handful of them protested today. And one of them was in a chicken suit. The officers are going to have to come to realization that this merger is not going to change and they are in it for the long-haul.
At the same time, the top management is going to have to take some steps to improve officer moral. Whether it’s more money, or something, you can’t expect someone to do a good job when they feel like an 8-year old who just left the Never Land Ranch to spend the night at former Congressman Mark Foley.
There were about 50 officers at the ceremony, mostly command rank and about 25 protestors outside. That’s not a good start for the new consolidated police department. However, I hope both sides take this as a new opportunity, for a new start for the new department.
