UPDATE: The Marion County Sheriff's Office has two possible solutions for the transport problem. Read about those here. Original story below:
INDIANAPOLIS -- The battle between the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department and the Marion County Sheriff’s Office over whose responsibility it is to transport prisoners from scenes to the processing centers continues, but a temporary solution may be in the works.
Sources tell Call 6 Investigates that the sheriff’s office is planning to turn over two or three of its wagons to IMPD as a short-term fix. The police department will then utilize overtime funds to pay to metro police officers to staff the wagons and continue to keep coverage across the city.
Currently, the transport wagons are run by the Marion County Sheriff’s Office. It’s a responsibility they picked up during the merger of the sheriff’s patrol division and the Indianapolis Police Department.
The sheriff’s office has been running some shifts with only two wagons for the entire county – all 403 square miles – and refusing to pick up certain arrestees. The sheriff’s office says they reduced the number of wagons because of staffing shortages.
Because of that, IMPD officers have had to make tough choices about whether or not have the resources to safely make an arrest because the district is too busy to lose an officer in some neighborhoods, the police union says.
The decision to hand over transport wagons to IMPD is just a short-term solution and both agencies say they are still discussing potential solutions.
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