By Police1 Staff
INDIANAPOLIS — The president of a police union in Indiana said the number of officers leaving the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department has reached alarming levels.
FOP president Rick Snyder told WTTV that the department is seeing a “mass exodus” of officers. He said the department will lose 96 officers this year, and that the department only has 86 officers budgeted to be hired.
Snyder said that the number of officers leaving versus being recruited is coming at a time when the city is experiencing record violence. He added that city leaders need to address the issue.
“Logistically, it does not appear possible to outhire the number of officers that are leaving,” Snyder said.
Snyder said there are a variety of reasons why officers are leaving the department. One being that some officers “feel like they are being treated like the bad guys versus having the support they need.”
Last year, two IMPD officers fatally shot 45-year-old Aaron Bailey following a high-speed pursuit. The officers pulled over Bailey for having a suspended license before Bailey fled the scene and crashed into a tree, according to the Indy Star.
Bailey was fatally shot after the officers said they believed he reached for a weapon from his center console and wouldn’t comply with orders to show his hands. Earlier this year, the officers were allowed to keep their jobs despite the chief’s request that they be fired, which Snyder said fractured morale within the department.
Chief Bryan Roach said the number of officers expected to depart the department is actually 85. He added that although that number is higher than the 69 they initially predicted, he said that most of those departures are retirements and have nothing to do with morale.
“It concerns us people are leaving. That’s a lot of knowledge walking out the door, but we’re an older police department,” Roach said. “I haven’t heard because that anyone retired because of a decision I made or because of morale. This is a different job than it was 20 years ago.”
The chief said they aim to hire 31 new officers every year for four years and that they hope to have 1,712 officers at the end of the year.
“I anticipate I may not be at that 1,712, but we’ll have more officers on this department than we’ve ever had,” Roach said.