Calling it “the start of a new era” for the police department, Mayor Joe Hogsett on Monday announced Chris Bailey would lead the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.
Bailey, a 25-year veteran of the department who has served as interim chief since December, becomes police chief after a year of unusually high police shootings. There were 18 such incidents in 2023, the same number that occurred between 2016 and 2019.
He’ll also be tasked with leading the city’s ongoing violence reduction efforts as the department contends with a public perception that Indianapolis is a city plagued by violent crime. And the department has hundreds of vacant positions despite offering sign-on bonuses and a starting salary around $72,000.
A native of the west side of Indianapolis, Bailey attended George Washington High School and is a graduate of the FBI National Academy. He began his career as a city patrol officer in 1999 before rising through the ranks to become a detective, sergeant and lieutenant. He was appointed assistant chief in 2019.
Bailey is the fourth police chief to be named since Hogsett was elected in 2016.
“Nobody knows the challenges of the job better than the person taking on this role today,” Hogsett said during a press conference Monday, Feb. 12 at the City-County Council Building. “It is a sacrifice not only for the individual who wears the badge, but for their loved ones. I know that weighed heavily on Chief Bailey’s decision.”
After a brief swearing-in ceremony, an emotional Bailey delivered prepared remarks in which he said that weeks earlier he asked Hogsett not to consider him for the top job. He didn’t want to be the kind of father who missed his kids’ sports games and important life events, he said.
But on a recent family road trip, his teenage daughter convinced him to change his mind, he said.
“Wise beyond her years, she reminded me that the best way that I can show up for her as a parent is to show up for my whole community,” Bailey said, his wife and three children standing beside the podium. “This is my home, and there is no place that I’d rather be.”
Hogsett praised the leadership of Bailey’s predecessor, Randal Taylor, whom the mayor appointed in 2019. Taylor led the department during the 2020 protests and riots in Indianapolis that came in response to the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer.
“There’s frankly no other way to put it: Randy Taylor led the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department during four of the most challenging years in our city’s history,” Hogsett said.
Taylor announced his resignation as chief in December but will remain with the department as commander of victims’ services, according to an IMPD spokesperson.
Indianapolis experienced a record-high 271 criminal homicides in 2021, dropping to 212 in 2022 and 170 in 2023.
Bailey named Catherine Cummings, who had been serving as deputy chief, to be his assistant chief focused on building programs and community engagement. He also named Micheal Wolley, another deputy chief, as his assistant chief overseeing IMPD’s operations and investigations divisions.
Rick Snyder, the head of the Indianapolis Fraternal Order of Police, posted on social media that the union looks forward to working with Bailey.
“Significant momentum can be reached with this continuity of leadership and continued progress. The professional police officers who faithfully serve the residents, business owners and visitors of Indianapolis remain steadfast in their mission of preserving the law and restoring order all while interrupting crime and violence. Full steam ahead,” Snyder said in a statement on X.
Mirror Indy reporter Peter Blanchard covers local government. Reach him at 317-605-4836 or peter.blanchard@mirrorindy.org. Follow him on X @peterlblanchard.