Beech Grove, Indianapolis increase police officer pay for 2023

WRTV's Meredith Hackler tells us what two central Indiana cities hope to accomplish with the raises.

Police officer pay on the rise in central Indiana

By: James Howell Jr.

BEECH GROVE — After approvals from their respective city councils, both Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officers and Beech Grove Police Department officers can expect pay increases starting in 2023.

For IMPD, the hope is to attract new recruits with a higher starting salary and a signing bonus. For BGPD, the hope is to retain the full staff of officers they already have.

BGPD has 38 police officers currently on staff, all 38 will receive a pay increase next year.

"This is basically step two of a three-step program and step three going forward which will be next year and there is a plan in place to increase it even more,” Tom Hurrle, Deputy Chief of Operations for BGPD said.

Officers in Beech Grove will receive a 12% salary increase. An officer with three years of experience will start at a little more than $78,000 a year. A rookie officer will make a little more than $67,000 a year.

At IMPD, the base salary for new officers will increase to just over $61,000 annually. They will also be given a $10,000 signing bonus.

"The new recruit or the new officer will get half of that money at the completion of training and then will get the other half of that money once he or she completes their probationary year,” IMPD Deputy Chief Catherin Cummings said.

Unlike BGPD, IMPD is not fully staffed. They are actually down 200 officers currently and have had continued issues with recruiting.

“We are seeing people leave no different than anywhere else, but I think that's just part of what's happening right now in hiring across the country,” Cummings said. “And we are not seeing people leave just to other agencies. We are seeing people who have completed their career here with the IMPD and they are moving on to other industries.”

While IMPD hopes that an increase in pay will help recruit more officers, they also hope to reach other parts of the workforce.

"When you look at our talent pool, we need to look at the workforce pool as a whole and so that is everyone,” Cummings said. “Anyone who has ever even thought that they have interest in this job, come talk to us.”