The Sunday Post - March 22, 2026: IMPD Staffing, Eastside Accountability, and Spring Fiscal Priorities
- Michael-Paul Hart
- 6 minutes ago
- 4 min read
A weekly report from Councilor Michael-Paul Hart — Building the Smartest City in America.
Volume 2, Issue 12
Meeting with IMPD Chief Terry
This week, I had the opportunity to sit down with new IMPD Chief Terry for a focused
conversation about public safety in Indianapolis.
The biggest challenge we discussed was staffing.
Indianapolis is currently down roughly 380 officers, and the city continues to lose around 60 officers a year. That is not sustainable for a city our size. If we want safer neighborhoods, faster response times, and more proactive policing, we have to treat recruitment and retention as a top-tier priority.
I also raised the public safety concerns I hear most often from residents, especially on the East and South Sides. Traffic safety remains high on that list. People are frustrated by speeding, reckless driving, overweight trucks on local roads, and the sense that enforcement is too limited.
Chief Terry also shared several public resources residents can use right now:
Traffic complaint form: https://www.indy.gov/workflow/send-traffic-complaint
Transparency Hub: https://impd-transparency-hub-indygis.hub.arcgis.com/
Strategic Plan: https://www.indy.gov/activity/impd-strategic-plan
But the most important part of our conversation was recruitment.
I shared an example from Fort Worth, Texas, where police applications reportedly surged after city leadership, the business community, and police leadership got aligned around a visible, public recruitment effort. They made it clear that their city supported law enforcement and wanted qualified people to step forward and serve.
That is the kind of thinking Indianapolis should be open to.
If we are serious about strengthening public safety, then we need to be just as serious about building a recruitment strategy that matches the size of the challenge. That may mean treating a real recruitment campaign as part of the upcoming Spring Fiscal conversation.
If Indianapolis wants to become the Smartest City in America, we need a public safety strategy that is honest about the staffing problem and willing to act on it.
German Church Road: “The Bump”
This has gone on long enough.
For more than six months, I have been raising concerns with the city about the dangerous road failure on German Church Road, what many residents now simply call “the bump.”
This is not a minor inconvenience. It is a real safety issue.
Residents have raised it. Businesses have raised it. There is a school nearby. Around 30 school buses a day pass over that section, along with fire trucks and EMS vehicles.
The culvert in the road is failing, and the city has known about it.
Winter is no longer an excuse. The city needs to get out there and fix this before the damage worsens and before someone gets hurt. When people see road work happening around Indianapolis but a clear safety hazard remains untouched for months, it sends the wrong message.
The East Side deserves the same urgency as every other part of the city. If we want to be the Smartest City in America, we have to prove we can handle the fundamentals.
HOA Meeting - Woodsong
Spring means neighborhood meeting season, and this week I had the opportunity to spend time with the Woodsong neighborhood.
One of the biggest concerns raised was the property at 130 S. Mitthoeffer. It is an unfortunate
situation for the surrounding community. The site was zoned I-4 decades ago, but today it feels completely out of place next to homes, a golf course, and an area that should be protected and strengthened, not worn down.
Residents continue to raise concerns about semi-truck activity, tree removal, and the impact this site has had on the surrounding area. Those concerns are understandable. This is a beautiful part of the East Side, and people want to see it respected.
We also talked about Washington Square Mall and the broader East Washington corridor. That work remains a top priority for me. The East Side deserves real economic development,
stronger commercial corridors, and a future shaped by community input, not decline and drift.
I am always open to HOA and neighborhood association invitations, including outside District 20. Those conversations help me hear what is happening across the city and learn where neighborhoods are finding solutions that others may be able to use too.
If your neighborhood would like me to join a meeting, send me a message. If I am available, I will do my best to be there.
Preparing for the 2026 Spring Fiscal
Spring Fiscal is approaching, and now is the time to start talking clearly about priorities.
Last year, that figure landed somewhere in the $20 million to $30 million range. This year, residents deserve a real conversation about how those dollars should be spent.
My priorities remain clear:
Strip patching and overdue repairs.
Public safety recruitment.
Homelessness
And on public safety, that includes being open to smarter recruitment strategies if they can help IMPD attract more qualified applicants. If a targeted recruitment effort can help stabilize staffing, that is a conversation worth having.
I want to hear from you before the process moves too far.
How would you like to see these dollars spent?
What is the most important need in your neighborhood?
What problem has gone too long without attention?
The smartest city in America will not be built by guessing what neighborhoods need. It will be built by listening, setting priorities, and acting on them.
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See you next week with more updates from the Neighborhood.
