Mayor Joe Hogsett, Chief Bryan Roach announce IMPD recruit pay raise

INDIANAPOLIS – Mayor Joe Hogsett and Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department (IMPD) Chief Bryan Roach announced today a significant pay raise for IMPD recruits that increases the starting salary for a first-year recruit officer from $39,446 to $51,000. The starting salary increase is among a series of innovative changes aimed at recruiting and retaining more qualified applicants to join the police force.
 
“Balancing the budget with unanimous council support allows us to make long overdue investments – investments in things like infrastructure, education, and in the people charged with keeping our city safe,” said Mayor Joe Hogsett. “And coupled with innovative changes to recruiting practices, investing more in each person who steps up to serve our city will in turn help us recruit more qualified people.”
 
In addition to the starting salary increase to $51,000 for first-year officers, second-year officers will see a bump from $47,650 to $59,500. The increases will go into effect as the 19th Recruit Class is sworn-in to the Training Academy this June. Current first- and second-year officers will also see raises in June. Lateral recruits will continue to begin their careers with IMPD at the third-year officer contractual salary rate of $70,139.
 
“As we work to recruit new officers, we’re not only competing with other industries in Indianapolis, we’re competing with police agencies in other cities,” said IMPD Chief Bryan Roach. “Innovation in recruiting practices and a competitive starting salary are crucial if we are to continue to build a police force that reflects the strength and vibrancy of Indianapolis.”
 
Also announced today is a rare fast-track opportunity ahead of the next recruit class swearing-in. IMPD candidates who apply before February 1st will have the chance on February 9th to complete all pre-requisites, including the oral interview, written testing, and physical agility testing, in one day with the chance to join the June recruit class. In addition to new applicants, over 600 existing applicants will be eligible to participate in the testing day.
 
“On the IMPD, every officer serving the community is considered a recruiting officer, and every interaction with residents and visitors is considered an opportunity to cultivate the next generation of public safety professionals,” said Deputy Chief of Administration Valerie Cunningham.
 
For the first time in the department’s history, IMPD will bolster this philosophy with an incentive program that rewards officers for motivating qualified new recruits to join the force. Sworn merit officers who recruit an applicant will receive $250 when that individual is sworn-in to the Training Academy, and an additional $250 when they complete the Academy, for a total of $500.
 
These changes to IMPD recruiting come as part of the department’s evolving efforts to recruit new officers that have recently included expanding social media outreach through the @joinIMPD twitter handle, launching the application process on the new, user- and mobile-friendly indy.gov, and recruiting experienced officers by opening up a lateral hiring process for the first time in years. The changes are being funded by cost savings the department experienced as the result of retirements over and above budgeted estimates.
 
Despite challenges to recruit new officers experienced nation-wide, IMPD ended 2018 with one of the highest staffing levels in the department’s history. This growth in staffing allowed for the return to beat policing city-wide last April. All officers begin their careers as a patrol officer, and now, rather than being assigned to a zone, new officers are assigned to a beat where they can get out of their cars and build stronger relationships with the neighborhood they serve. By helping to solve problems Indianapolis residents face, beat officers have the opportunity to make a tangible and direct impact on the community, one resident at a time.
 
The 2019 budget proposed by Mayor Hogsett and passed unanimously by the City-County Council fully funds 1,743 IMPD officers. To reach this staffing level, the department has set a goal to bring in 75 new recruit officers to begin the Training Academy in June, and 75 to begin in December. IMPD is accepting applications for new recruits through March 18. Interested applicants can apply here.
 
The new pay scale is as follows: