Indiana

UP WHERE IMPD BELONGS

By Abdul Hakim-Shabazz

By a vote of 21-8, a bi-partisan group of City-County Councilors gave Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard the first major victory of his administration, control of the police department. Five Democrats joined 16 Republicans in voting to give the Mayor control of IMPD from the Marion County Sheriff.

The Mayor has operational control of the department, while the Sheriff gets to consult on certain policy matters.  Despite the agreement, Democrats like Minority Leader Joanne Sanders said the Administration should have provided a financial analysis of the costs of the transfer.  Public Safety Director Scott Newman said the costs would be minimal at best.

Newman also said with the city having seen 15 homicides since January 1, and four of them children, it was time to get to the business of fighting crime.

Police Chief Mike Spears called the vote an opportunity for rank and file officers to express their opinions and offer new ideas on how to improve the department.

Meanwhile, Democratic Councilor Vernon Brown might have summed it up best when he said, “This is what the public voted, but remember the old saying, ‘be careful what you wish for.’”

The transfer goes into effect at the end of the month.

The council also voted to approve a new charter school and appointed well-known Libertarians Brad Klopfenstein and Tim Maguire to the Metropolitan Zoning Board of Appeals.

Full post as published by Indiana Barrister on February 11, 2008 (boomark / email).