Last summer, the Indianapolis Fraternal Order of Police publicly issued a “Call to Action” for State and Local elected officials to expedite critically needed enhancements for Law Enforcement Officers.
The Indianapolis FOP specifically called upon local City County Councilors and the Mayor to allocate emergency funding for additional specialized safety and tactical equipment for local police officers including trauma kits, external tactical body armor with carriers, ballistic helmets and a less lethal bean bag weapons system.
We are pleased to announce that our FOP received notification today from our City leaders that they are fully funding the additional protective equipment for our IMPD officers.
Through collaborative work with our City Controller, the Mayor’s administration and our partners on the City County Council the funding will be done with other existing dollars and will neither require an additional appropriation nor take away from the existing departmental budget.
This was truly a nonpartisan issue and came about through bipartisan work and support for law enforcement from both sides of the aisle. It is our hope the collaborative nature of this effort between our Mayor, Council, Chief of Police and the Fraternal Order of Police will serve as a model for other communities throughout our country.
In the coming days, our newly established FOP safety equipment committee will be asked by lodge leadership to work with the Chief of Police and his staff on the timely procurement and distribution of this equipment. This funding should provide every IMPD officer with a ballistic helmet and an external tactical carrier with rifle plate armor.
In addition, the department has ensured every officer has a trauma kit available to them and steps are underway to train and deploy a less lethal weapons platform.
I want to thank our FOP Executive Board, our collective active/retired membership and their families for their steadfast commitment to the safety of our officers.
As we applaud this effort and our City’s leadership, we pause to reflect upon the tragic deaths of multiple law enforcement officers nationally and locally which have highlighted the ever growing need to enhance the protection of our officers so that they may protect and serve our City. In their sacrifice, we remain resolved.
Fraternally,
Rick Snyder, President
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