INDIANAPOLIS — Today, 35 new recruits officially joined the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.
The officers-in-training were sworn into the 28th recruit class at a ceremony.
IMPD has been working to grow the department, which is short about 200 officers. Despite this need, metro police said it's not cutting corners with its requirements
"You know the mayor and the chief of police have made a commitment that you know to get those numbers up to the best of our ability, but we maintain the highest professional standards that we can," Major Mike Leepper said. "We have high expectations for our officers. We have one of the longest training programs in the state of Indiana, so we don't waiver on our our expectations and screening processes for our applicants that come into this program."
Next, the 35 recruits must go through a training academy. Then, 16 weeks of specialized training.
They'll focus on crucial skills like communication, deescalation, mental health awareness and cultural sensitivity.
