INDIANAPOLIS -- The Marion County Sheriff’s Office will stop providing two important services to other local law enforcement agencies due to budget restraints.
RTV6 obtained on Monday a notice issued Friday by Sheriff John Layton informing Marion County police departments that MCSO would no longer be providing arrestee transport services from arrest sites or security services at Marion County hospitals.
That means IMPD, Speedway, Lawrence and other Marion County police departments will have to transport their own prisoners to the jail, and provide their own security for detainees being treated at Eskenazi or other hospitals.
In his notice, Layton said the sheriff’s department was never required to provide such services to begin with, and that sheriffs’ departments in Indiana’s 91 other counties don’t.
He also said the decision was made because MCSO was facing “declining revenues and personnel challenges.”
“About six months ago, as we faced the stark reality of the 2017 and 2018 budgets, we began seriously reviewing all options to reduce spending, refocus our resources on responsibilities mandated to the sheriff and stem the tide of attrition and escalating overtime expenditures. The current situation has forced us to make difficult decisions.”
The changes to the services provided by MCSO will take effect on Sept. 24 to coincide with the closing of the Marion County Arrestee Processing Center.
The Indianapolis FOP released the following statement Tuesday in reaction to the sheriff's announcement:
"While we have concerns about the narrow timeline proposed for such a transition, we have confidence in the ability of the IMPD chief of police to manage the situation. In the interim, a thorough review of the resources and assets needed for such a transition should be explored especially as it relates to the ripple effects placed upon IMPD and other local law enforcement agencies related to staffing, resources and equipment. This should include an analysis of any such budgetary allocations, equipment transfers and personnel equivalents made to the sheriff's department when they assumed these responsibilities as part of the merger in 2007."
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