INDIANAPOLIS — A big partnership for IMPD in its efforts to recruit more officers.

The latest numbers show IMPD is short almost 300 officers. Officials hope working with the Colts will help them score more recruits to serve the city.

Colts center Ryan Kelly spent his evening at the IMPD training academy with Pre-Academy Reediness (PAR) participants. The PAR program helps prepare candidates for the physical and mental demands of training camp.

Kelly is from Cincinnati, Ohio. His father served with the Ohio State Police Officer for more than 30 years before retiring.

Kelly’s message Tuesday night was it takes a special person to wear the badge and Indianapolis needs you.

“The reason you would be here today is because somebody believed in you along the way, that you would be a good fit for this community to make it better. Right? There’s crime, there’s violence no matter where you go, but the right people on the right side of the law are the ultimate ones that bring the community back together,” Kelly said.

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As of now, there are 1,455 sworn officers with IMPD. The department is budgeted for 1,743 sworn officers.

IMPD Chief Chris Bailey said having the Colts on board to help with this effort may be the push they need to bring more folks on board.

“The Colts have a nationwide audience. Every Sunday when they’re in town, there are 65,000 plus people in there. We have some advertising in the scout magazine that you see every weekend at the Colts game. It’s another opportunity for us to reach a large group of people,” Bailey said.

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According to IMPD, Colts fans will see IMPD recruitment messages featured on outdoor marquees during select games, in publications like the Colts Scout and Yearbook, and hear radio spots on 93.5/1070 The Fan, as well as 97.1 Hank FM.

Additionally, IMPD recruiters have had a visible presence at various Colts games and in American Family Insurance Touchdown Town, giving them a chance to connect directly with community members who may be interested in a career in public safety.

Kelly stuck around to help participants in the training academy with their workouts.

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The most recent city budget includes a four percent increase for IMPD and much of that money will go towards the department’s recruitment and retention efforts.

The starting salary for new IMPD officers is around $72,000 a year.

IMPD’s push to hire has been going on for a while.

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About two years ago, the department put billboards up in cities in other states, including Detroit and Cincinnati, encouraging anyone interested in a law enforcement career to “make a move” to Indianapolis.

If you are interested in joining IMPD, visit JoinIMPD.Indy.gov and apply.

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The technology to track the demographics of everyone pulled over by the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department was approved to be taught to officers by the General Orders Board.

If you’re pulled over on the streets of Indianapolis, the pilot program is aimed to find out if that traffic stop was racial profiling.

“This is not about us making more work for the officers. This is not that we believe the officers are doing anything wrong,” said IMPD Deputy Chief Kevin Wethington.

The program was created by IMPD, “It’s easy to use. It’s drop downs. No fill in the blanks,” Wethington said.

Things like sex, race, how long the stop lasted, why the stop was started, was the person searched, was the car searched, and why was the car searched are all categories officers will have to enter before submitting the form.

If done efficiently, IMPD said it could take 20-30 seconds.

“I don’t know that the line officers are going to be excited about a new mandate to do another step in traffic stops, but I believe the officers will embrace the why behind this,” Wethington said.

The why is to get a detailed picture of who they’re stopping, where, and why, even if that person doesn’t get a ticket or get arrested.

“This will actually answer those questions for the first time,” Wethington said.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana fully supports the implementation of the program because of what the end data could show. It could lead to major changes in how policing is done in Indianapolis.

Is there any concern that there might actually be some sort of profiling, or racial profiling, that’s actively going on, but is just not known because there is no data?

“Yes. At the ACLU we have just seen example after example nation wide of police departments, even those who have policies in place and have good intent, engaging in racial profiling,” said Chris Daley, executive director of the ACLU of Indiana.

Wethington does not have those concerns about what the data will show.

“We stop criminals. We stop traffic offenders. We stop people that need to be stopped,” Wethington said.

IMPD told I-Team 8, once this program is up and running, they’ll have to pair up with a research team that will sift through all of this data to determine if there is any racial profiling going.

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — America’s largest ultra low-cost air carriers are on decidedly different flight paths this week.

One is struggling to survive, while two others are announcing expanded schedules – including new flights into and out of Indianapolis.

Spirit Airlines declared bankruptcy Monday in an attempt to reboot as it struggles to gain financial altitude lost during the pandemic travel swoon and the airline’s scuttled sale to JetBlue.

Spirit has worked out terms with its stakeholders leading to the Chapter 11 filing, and the carrier says it will keep operating as normal.

Now, Allegiant and Frontier announced Tuesday are rolling out new flight schedules.

In Allegiant’s case, it’s the company’s largest ever – with 44 new routes and service to three new cities.

“We’re excited to announce that Allegiant is expanding nationwide, offering even more travel options to our customers,” Drew Wells, Allegiant’s chief commercial officer, said in a statement accompanying the new schedule. “These additions reflect our ongoing commitment to meet customer demand. By connecting more cities, we’re making it easier for travelers to visit family and friends, access top leisure destinations, and create new memories.”

The headline addition for Indiana readers is a non-stop route between Indianapolis (IND) and Portland, Oregon (PDX), beginning May 23, 2025.

Allegiant is starting service to Gulf Shores, Alabama (GUF), Colorado Springs, Colorado (COS), and Columbia, South Carolina (CAE).

The additions bring Allegiant’s service map to 51 cities in all.

Frontier’s new Indianapolis offerings are non-stops to Tampa and Atlanta, allowing customers to skip the customary Denver connection that currently adds several hours and thousands to those routes.

The Tampa flights will debut March 6, 2025 and take off three times per week.
The Atlanta flights begin the next day, March 7, 2025 and also repeat three times each week.

Both airlines are offering introductory fares well below regular price. Frontier’s new IND flights start as low as $19. Allegiant’s begin at $79.