IMPD Chief Bailey talks about taking new chief of staff role
Indianapolis police chief Chris Bailey speaks about taking over as Mayor Joe Hogsett’s chief deputy mayor and chief of staff.
- After more than two decades in law enforcement, IMPD Chief Chris Bailey will move into one of the city’s top civilian roles.
- In a sit-down interview, Bailey discussed how public safety is the start of good governance, Statehouse politics and his future political aspirations.
- Bailey also discussed what he wants to see in the next Indianapolis police chief.
Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department Chief Chris Bailey says he didn’t see his new job coming.
He expected to remain police chief through the rest of Mayor Joe Hogsett’s third term, digging into IMPD’s core issues as part of a new five-year strategic plan that he oversaw. But after two years leading the police department, Bailey will become Hogsett’s chief of staff Feb. 2, moving from one of the city’s top law enforcement jobs to one of its most influential civilian roles.
The job, also known as chief deputy mayor, has been the source of controversy and repeated turnover. Bailey will be Hogsett’s fourth chief of staff in a decade as mayor.
Former Department of Public Works Director Dan Parker stepped down from the role Dec. 31, halfway through Hogsett’s third term, after more than three years as the mayor’s right-hand man.
The mayor’s first chief of staff, Thomas Cook, quietly resigned in late 2020 after Hogsett discovered Cook’s prohibited sexual relationship with a subordinate. In a 2024 IndyStar article, Lauren Roberts, Caroline Ellert and a third anonymous woman accused Cook of sexual misconduct; Ellert also accused him of sexually assaulting her in 2019. A Marion County grand jury is now investigating city development deals involving Cook, as well as allegations of “unlawful touching.”
In a sit-down interview with IndyStar Jan. 9, Bailey said none of that fraught history gave him pause as he considered the new job. “I’m focused on service and governing,” he said.
To that end, Bailey’s more than two decades of law enforcement experience — starting as an IMPD patrol officer in 1999 and rising through the ranks to become chief in February 2024 — taught him something that he plans to keep top of mind: Good governance starts with public safety.
Bailey also discussed how he will navigate tensions over violent crime between the Democrat-led capital city and the Republican-dominated state legislature, what the city needs in its next police chief and whether he plans to run for political office someday.
Read the full Q&A with Bailey below:
IndyStar’s full Q&A with incoming Chief of Staff Chris Bailey
This conversation has been edited for length, brevity and clarity.
Question: In late December, you told an IndyStar colleague the following: “The average tenure for a police chief is about three years. My goal while I’m here is to do the right thing, and to leave this organization better than I got it.” So you’ve been chief for two years. Was the offer to become chief of staff a surprise? Why leave IMPD now?
Answer: Yeah, it’s a surprise. It wasn’t on my bingo card to be the chief of staff for a major metropolitan city mayor.
But as I contemplated the offer, I think everything in my career, in my life, has set me up for this opportunity, and it’s always been an interest of mine to govern. I did that as a police chief. I wasn’t really a police officer, as a police chief — I was an administrator. I managed a $350 million budget, 1,800 employees responsible for the safety of millions of people that either live or visit and come and go in our city every single day.
My intention when I said ‘yes’ to the mayor to take the police chief’s job was to finish this term as the police chief, and then walk away. But as fate has it, the opportunity came. And after careful reflection and discussions with my family, I thought it would be a great opportunity to help continue my service to the city.
And it will be a different way of serving. How will the ways you try to influence the city’s direction as chief of staff differ from how you did so as police chief?
I think that leadership generally is about people and relationships. And I think I’ve done a good job, from my time as deputy chief of investigations through assistant chief and chief, of building relationships across the political spectrum, across our city, across our state and across our country. [Through] my work with the Major Cities Chiefs Association, I have friendships with chiefs all over the country, and that allows me to have great perspectives and understand things that are happening in whatever city, things that may come here eventually.
A lot of people [make this transition], and I didn’t realize that until one of my close advisers sent me a bunch of articles about all these police chiefs that transfer to city manager, to public safety director, and some even to mayor — which, by the way, I have no interest in. So I’ll just answer that question for you now.
But [there are] skills that you learn in those positions, managing people, navigating obstacles, working through interdepartmental issues. An issue for [the Department of Public Works] is an issue for the police. An issue for [the Department of Business and Neighborhood Services] is an issue for the police. [Working] through those issues has prepared me for this role, and for Mayor Hogsett to see that is truly an honor for me.
On that note, after more than two decades in policing, what perspective will you bring to the mayor’s office about how public policy decided up here on the 25th floor of the City-County Building affects what’s happening on the ground in neighborhoods?
Everything that we do as a government revolves around public safety to start. If you don’t feel safe in your neighborhood, if you don’t feel like a city is safe, then you don’t come here. You don’t visit here. You don’t live here. You don’t raise your family here. You don’t invest your money here.
I think having that perspective helps lead everything else among the priorities that the mayor has: better roads, investments in parks, ending chronic homelessness, removing the barriers for housing, making the price of housing more affordable so people can have a home and then create some generational wealth that comes along with being a homeowner. All those things play a part, with public safety being at the top of that.
As chief of staff, how will you handle the often contentious relationship between the mayor’s office and the state legislature, whose members frequently are talking about intervention in local law enforcement after episodes of violent crime?
I really am going to lean into the example that was set by [former Chief of Staff] Dan Parker. Dan Parker has a great relationship with people at the state on both sides of the aisle, and I think that our shared interests are to make sure that Indianapolis is great.
Same thing with me: I’ve spent a lot of time being apolitical and being focused on doing what’s right and what’s best for the people of this city and working with both sides of the [Indianapolis City-County] Council, with both sides of the General Assembly, to pass bills like the Indiana Crime Guns Task Force bill or to work with the council on a bipartisan effort to help us combat issues related to street takeovers and street racing.
I think when the focus is on governing, which is mine — I am not an elected person —
and so my obligation is to every single person who lives, works and visits Indianapolis. Politics play a part in everyday life. I play politics at home with my kids. You can’t escape it. But I’m here to govern and work with people to make Indianapolis better tomorrow than it is today.
Obviously, there’s been some turnover in the chief of staff role. Currently, development contracts involving Hogsett’s first chief of staff, Thomas Cook, are being looked at by a Marion County grand jury. There’s been a lot of strife over the last year and a half regarding Cook’s impact in this role. Did any of that give you pause when you considered taking the role as chief of staff?
No, because my focus is on the city. Everything I have in my life is because of this city. I’m focused on service and governing.
There’s challenges in every single administration and every single agency within any giant enterprise. There’s been steps taken to mitigate issues related to those things, but what I’m focused on now is continuing to push Mayor Hogsett’s agenda forward for the next two years and making sure that the people of Indianapolis have what they need to live in the greatest city in the country, in my opinion.
Moving to your current department: Now IMPD will be without a chief. What do you want to see from the next police chief, and are there any specific people you’ll vouch for to the mayor?
Between myself and [former IMPD Chief Randal Taylor], and my time as assistant chief and now as chief, we’ve spent a really large amount of time creating a deep bench and a leadership legacy within the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department. And I’m proud of our team. Any successes that we’ve had in my tenure as a chief … you can give [my team] credit for them, and our officers, our professional staff, and our partnerships in the community and other city enterprises.
So I think we all want someone who is visible, who is supportive, who will listen, who is accessible in the community, who is service-oriented, who understands what our mission is, who understands what the goals are that we’ve worked together on in the last two years. … And there’s someone within our existing team that I think fits that bill. Multiple people.
So the mayor’s choice is going to be very hard. I’ll provide input in all that, and whoever he decides on will be a much better chief than I could ever have imagined.
Do you think it’s important that someone from the current rank and file is promoted from within?
I think at this time, where we are right now, the best candidate to be police chief comes from right here within our department.
During your time as chief, IMPD dealt with some controversies related to outbursts of downtown violence, a number of officers being charged with sex crimes. Are there regrets from your time as police chief that you want the next chief to focus on improving?
Yeah, those are challenges. Any time you’re dealing with human beings, you’re going to have people that unfortunately step out from under their oath. And those things have to be dealt with. I think what you saw from us is that those things were dealt with, they were dealt with quickly and in the right way. It’s super unfortunate that it happened.
I think I could have done a better job at fixing our recruitment and retention issues. This is a national issue, no doubt. The issues of 2020 and George Floyd and the racial reckoning, and all the things that occurred over the last five years in policing, definitely have impacted people who want to be police not just in Indianapolis, but across the country. There were tremendous investments made by Mayor Hogsett in starting pay in this last labor agreement to push our pay up significantly. And this is a great job if you have a mind for service.
So I want the next chief to really — and it was going to be part of our strategic plan — to dive deeper into hiring practices. The whole process, from start to finish, which includes recruiting and all those things. We had just gotten started in doing some of those things and I have no doubt the next chief will continue those efforts to improve that area.
You said you won’t run for mayor. That’s not in the works. Does this new job mean that you’re thinking of a future in elected office?
I didn’t expect this job, and so I don’t know what the future holds. I may have my fill of governing in the next two years and just want to escape to some deserted island and stare at a palm tree. I don’t know.
I don’t want to box myself into anything, but at this point, I have no desire to run for political office.
Email Indianapolis City Hall Reporter Jordan Smith at JTSmith@usatodayco.com. Follow him on X @jordantsmith09 and Bluesky @jordanaccidentally.bsky.social.
