MY OWN “DISCOVERY”
Monday is Columbus Day. I usually do the radio show and take the rest of the day off so I wanted to get this up tonight. I’ve been disturbed at the recent rash of murders in town. There were 12 in September and we’ve hit half that number seven days into October when murders should be going down. Now more police won’t mean fewer murders per se, but they do add to an atmosphere that crime will not be tolerated.
I found out the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department just graduated a new class of 55 police officers. The trainees will be in the field for the next four to five months with a full-time officer before they are allowed to go out on their own, but more cops are always better.
However, part of the problem is that IMPD is in a state of playing perpetual catch up. The department is already 120-130 officers short according to its own internal documents which were accidentally released to the media back in May. And on top of that another 65 to 85 are expected to leave at the end of the year. So what you might say, there are at least another 100 new officers on the way. Well actually the number is 160 if you combine the next two training classes in April and October of next year. And IMPD is swearing in a new group of 80 officers on October 29 of this year. So over the next couple years IMPD will add nearly 300 officers to its ranks.
That sounds great, who wouldn’t want 300 more officers on the street. However, that 300 does not operate in a vacuum. Remember, we were already down 120 officers and 75 (an average) will leave this year for a 195-officer short fall. And don’t forget officers continue to retire. On average, IMPD loses approximately 65 officers per year due to standard retirement. And a number are eligible for early retirement after 20 years of service.
So let’s do some math, assuming all things are consistent by December 2008 IMPD will have “added” 300 officers, but it will have “lost” 290 officers (120 from the current vacancies and 150 due to retirements.) 300 – 290 = 10 new officers. So for all this trouble, hassle and tax increases all we will have to show for it are ten new cops. I think I should go try to discover a bullet proof vest.
