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One-on-one with outgoing IMPD Chief Rick Hite

Posted at 4:09 PM, Dec 09, 2015
and last updated 2015-12-09 16:09:01-05

INDIANAPOLIS -- After three years on the job, Chief Rick Hite says he's leaving IMPD with a lot of success stories.

Although he'll leave the city amid an uptick in violence, Hite said the department had made progress in introducing Narcan to combat heroin overdoses and in the recent busts of alleged crime rings such as the Grundy Crew and the Blockburners.

"When we take 120, 130 people off the street, that's going to leave a void, and for a period of time there's going to be an uptick in violence," Hite said. "Whenever you start a new project that happens, and we have to remind them crime goes up during that period of time."

WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH RICK HITE IN THE VIDEO PLAYER ABOVE.

Hite said he stands by his strategy of fighting violent crime, but felt it was time to move on.

"I think the idea of a purposeful mission of policing is you leave when you recognize that you've done all you can do, and I've done as much as I can do with the resources that I've had to work with, and it's time to move on," Hite said.

As for his job as chief? Hite gives himself a "B."

"I would like to say B+, but I would say because of the fact that … I think we were innovative in using the resources that we were given and I think that we could do more if we had more," he said.

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