Agreement reached between Indianapolis' Mayor and Marion County's Sheriff to transfer Metro PD authority from the Sheriff to the Mayor

[Terminator]

The city's mayor and Marion County's sheriff said Thursday they reached an agreement that would transfer authority of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department from the sheriff to the mayor.
A City-County Council committee already had been scheduled to consider such a proposal, but the deal calls for an amended version to which both Mayor Greg Ballard and Sheriff Frank Anderson agreed, the mayor's office said.
The committee OK'd the plan Thursday night and sent it to the full council for consideration.
Under the agreement, the sheriff would have "significant input" into the operation of IMPD, but authority over the department nevertheless would shift to the mayor, according to a news release from Ballard's office.
"The accountability starts here with my taking responsibility for the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department," Ballard said at a news conference. "This is no coup d'etat. This is the passing of the baton as we both move down the track to victory -- victory over crime."
IMPD was formed in January 2007 by merging the sheriff's department with the old Indianapolis Police Department. When the merger happened, the sheriff was given control of IMPD.
Ballard has sought control of IMPD since he took office this month.
One provision of Thursday's deal says either the mayor or the city's public safety director must consult with the sheriff about appointing a public safety director and chief of police, the release said.
Anderson, a Democrat, said he and the mayor, who is a Republican, "analyzed this issue and concluded that we have a unique opportunity."
"Our first commitment in this process was easy: civil discourse on the subject," Anderson said.

[lewisipso]

WTF

[k-9max]

Interesting!

[Twan007]

wow... that doesn't sound like it opens up the door for corruption =/

[Frankenstein]

Hey Term, why the hands down icon next to the title of the post? If you guys weren't clear, IMPD is the agency I work for. The then Mayor Bart Peterson decided in 2005 that he wanted to have a metro police department, created by combining IPD and the patrol division of the sheriff's dept. His plan was shot down by the city-county council at first, but after promises and back-door deals, the council approved the merger. Work started on the merger in 2006, and we became IMPD on Jan 1, 07. Sheriff Frank Anderson was initially very publicly opposed to the merger because control of the department would have been put in the hands of a panel of several people. The sheriff didn't begin to back the merger until he was given a "gift" of $50,000 (rumor also says $250,000) and was put in control of the merged department.

When the departments merged the sheriff promoted as many people as he could to positions of power and made it so the procedures of a 400 person department (MCSD) were put in effect instead of those of a 1200 person department (IPD). We have been doing things ass-backwards for the last year because of this.

It is a very good thing that the department is going to be back under control of the Mayor, especially now that we have a new pro-police mayor in office.

I would love to explain more, but I just got home from work and I need some rack time. If you guys have any more specific questions, I will try to answer them later today.

[Terminator]

Hey Term, why the hands down icon next to the title of the post?

In my opinion, a Mayor has no business running a police department. Only law enforcement officers should be running law enforcement agencies. This is an invitation for trouble. Your Mayor may be pro-police, but what happens when the next one isn't? I've seen first hand what happens when a Mayor runs a law enforcement agency, and the results haven't been pretty.

[Frankenstein]

In my opinion, a Mayor has no business running a police department. Only law enforcement officers should be running law enforcement agencies. This is an invitation for trouble. Your Mayor may be pro-police, but what happens when the next one isn't? I've seen first hand what happens when a Mayor runs a law enforcement agency, and the results haven't been pretty.

I hear you on that. The way it was before the merge, and the way it is supposed to be again, is that there is a Director of Public Safety that receives direction from the Mayor, and the Director then passes it on to the Chief of Police. I am hoping that the Mayor isn't going to act like a puppet master and try to control the day-to-day operations of the PD. I guess I'll have to wait and see.

[lewisipso]

Appointed chiefs or directors or public safety managers, or whatever, are usually under the direct control of bean counters. The bean counters usually have no real world knowledge what goes on in the street (aside from the political mumbo jumbo) If the department head pisses off the bean counter....no more beans. It becomes a pissing match between the department head and the chief bean counter. This continues until a newer less pissy department head is appointed. Thus, more beans less enforcement. Who suffers? The department and the public.
Clear who you work for? No. Must admit I didn't know that. Not that it matters. The thumbs down didn't seem to me to be a knock against you or your department, but the subject matter at hand. Non law enforcement trained personnel don't know dick about law enforcement.

[Lazy Fed]

Appointed chiefs or directors or public safety managers, or whatever, are usually under the direct control of bean counters. The bean counters usually have no real world knowledge what goes on in the street (aside from the political mumbo jumbo) If the department head pisses off the bean counter....no more beans. It becomes a pissing match between the department head and the chief bean counter. This continues until a newer less pissy department head is appointed. Thus, more beans less enforcement. Who suffers? The department and the public.
Clear who you work for? No. Must admit I didn't know that. Not that it matters. The thumbs down didn't seem to me to be a knock against you or your department, but the subject matter at hand. Non law enforcement trained personnel don't know dick about law enforcement.

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