INDIANAPOLIS -
Mayor Greg Ballard's current budget proposal does not include putting more police officers on the street. There's no money in the budget for a new police recruit class.
The cost to hire, train and equip a new police officer is about $100,000. Although the Indianapolis Metro Police Department is short-staffed on sworn officers, right now, the mayor has no plans to spend money on new officers.
New IMPD recruit Sheila McNeal is learning the streets from her field training officer. Her number one goal is developing a relationship with people in the neighborhoods she will patrol all by herself.
"We don't see everything, so we need to have a relationship with them in order for them to be our eyes and ears at the same times," McNeal said.
The mayor's 2013 budget leaves out money for another recruit class.
"Our committee will look at that pretty hard," said Ben Hunter, who sits on the City-County Council's public safety committee.
Hunter wants council members to give leaving recruit money out of the budget a second thought.
"This is obviously a pattern and a trend that cannot continue in a city our size," he said.
The size of the city's police force in 2002 was 1,134 officers. That number jumped to 1,640 after the 2007 merger with the Marion County Sheriff's Department. Retirements brought the total down to 1,605 by year's end. Five years later, the force is down to 1,597, with only 17 new recruits in training.
A former police chief, Dr. Richard Weinblatt, stresses that an understaffed force can have several effects on police officers.
"Yes, you are saving money through attrition, but the morale of the department goes down. New ideas are not being floated," Weinblatt said.
RIght now, it will probably be 3-4 months before McNeal and fellow new recruits are full-fledged officers.
"I am getting closer to my goal of helping other people," she said.
That's just about the time another recruit class would be starting if they had the money.
Ballard will likely face discussions from council members about not including money in the 2013 budget for another recruit class. Those discussions will also likely include looking at the number of retirements coming up in IMPD in the 12 months. That could leave the department short between 100-200 officers.
The number of officers on the IMPD force is on the decline.
There is no money in the budget for an IMPD recruit class.
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