IMPD Policies and Procedures
With recent problems plaguing the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, the City-County is stepping into fray. Council President Ryan Vaughn and Public Safety Committee Chairman Ben Hunter are offering up a proposal they say will bring changes to the department that are 20 years in the making.
The Councilors say their law enforcement integrity professional proposal will focus on education, professional standards, accountability and transparency. The plan would require the following…
Education
- All new police hires would have to have at least 60 hours of college credit or an Associate degree from an accredited institution of higher learning.
- A bachelor’s degree will be required for any promotion to Sergeant, Lieutenant and Captain.
- A bachelor’s degree will also be required for any appointed rank. Also anyone promoted to an appointed rank must complete nationally accredited professional development school or academy.
- The Councilors also say they plan to take into account military experience.
Professional Standards
- IMPD will be required to be accredited through the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies by 2014 and adopt best practices for policies and procedure.
- All IMPD employees will be required to have annual performance evaluations; currently there is no such requirement.
- Anyone who assumes the job of Public Safety Director must have a four-year degree, prior state, local of federal law enforcement experience as well as command and supervisory experience.
- Reserve officers must be certified by the Indiana Law Enforcement Training Board.
Accountability
- The Public Safety Director and police chief will report bi-annually on IMPD’s accreditation status, number of employee civilian and sworn discipline cases investigated and their disposition, as well as recommended reforms from the IMPD Training Academy.
- A bi-partisan study commission will review department policies on take-home cars and the need for an independent investigative unit under the jurisdiction of the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office.
- Review of departmental policies of law enforcement officers involved in critical, traumatic or incidents involving death as a result of a law enforcement action.
Transparency
- Revise city code to require any officer involved in an accident/crash with a city owned vehicle be reviewed by the Citizens Complaint Board.
- Final dispositions from all Internal Affairs investigations, district level supervisor/citizen complaints and dispositions from the Citizen’s Complaint Review Board will be made available on-line.
- All officer community or departmental awards as well citations or honors will be made available on-line.
Vaughn and Hunter say their intent is not to micromanage the department, but the Council does have a role in helping direct and promote IMPD policies that increase public confidence.
They say they have floated their ideas by the Ballard administration and the Fraternal Order of Police. The administration is said to be generally supportive of the proposal, while IMPD is very open to the education and accreditation components.
The devil, they acknowledge, will be in the details. A formal proposal is expected to be submitted at the September 20th City-Council meeting.
