MESSAGE TO MEMBERS~Merit Ordinance Proposal
April 16, 2015
Greetings,
This is a message to ALERT our membership of recent developments regarding a proposal that has been drafted to amend the current Merit System of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department. As you may be aware, for some months we have provided updates at our Regular Business Meetings regarding various proposals that were being considered by the Chief’s Office and the Department of Public Safety. After many ongoing discussions with the Department of Public Safety, we felt assured that any proposed changes had been shelved and we have not had any other substantive discussions for the past 6 months.
Suddenly on Friday (04/10/2015), our FOP received a “final” version of proposed amendments to the IMPD Merit Ordinance. This was received without any advance notice and was a complete surprise to us. As a result, I called an emergency meeting on Monday morning (04/13/2015) with Special Duty Representative, Bill Owensby, our lead contract negotiator Danny Overley, and our General Counsel for the lodge, Leo Blackwell. During the meeting contact was made with the Department of Public Safety to gain further information and we learned the Office of the Chief was moving forward with seeking Council Sponsors for the proposed merit ordinance changes with the full support of the Department of Public Safety. We also learned the DPS expected the amendments to be introduced by the Council as early as Monday 04/20/2015.
Based upon our initial review of the proposal as presented, we have serious concerns about the amendments and their potential to greatly dilute, if not outright strip, merit protections from the current ordinance. As a result, the following steps have been completed:
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I have authorized our legal team to begin a review to determine what legal recourse may be available to our membership if this proposal were moved forward;
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We have begun our due diligence and have already determined our current Merit Board has neither been briefed on these proposed changes, nor included in the creation of the proposal;
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We have reached out to potential sponsors within the Council to make known our opposition to this overall proposal and have expressed our reservations about the manner in which this effort is being conducted, including the timing of such changes;
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We are actively monitoring the situation to ensure timely updates for our membership.
In the interim, it should be noted our organization has consistently worked in good faith with the current IMPD and DPS administrations to promote harmonious labor relations. We take this seriously and have been frustrated by these latest developments. We are hopeful to quickly return to collaborative efforts that promote trust and respect while valuing the due process protections for our merit police officers, so that they may faithfully serve our community. Merit Laws exist for a reason and we will stand resolute in making sure the integrity of our merit system remains intact.
Please continue to monitor for additional updates on this matter.
Fraternally,
Rick Snyder, President
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