In the nearly 160 years of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, few police chiefs have adopted the kind of open approach as current Chief Rick Hite, who has led the department since 2010.
On any given day, Hite can be found throughout the community, speaking at a church or school, listening to the concerns of officers on patrol or warmly interacting with residents on the streets and answering their questions.
When Hite became chief, IMPD struggled with highly publicized challenges involving cases of excessive force, low morale among its officers, lack of diversity in its leadership and a deteriorating relationship with the city’s African-American community.
Hite, along with Public Safety Director Troy Riggs, have been credited with making progress in addressing each of those problems. This week, the Recorder spoke with Hite about how IMPD is changing under his leadership.
Your style with people has been described as open and hands-on. What’s the mentality behind that?
Being in the community and talking to people and going where they are is very important. One of my favorite places is an open restaurant where there are a lot of people around. Being a bachelor it gives me a chance to talk to people. I go home and cook and eat, but a restaurant, whether it’s a soul food or high-end restaurant, it provides a chance for me to have conversations with people. Doing that early in my tenure taught me about Indianapolis.
I learned how folksy it is, and how it is a big city but still has a friendly, old-fashioned feel. People don’t mind shaking hands or introducing themselves and talking to you like they’ve known you for years. We don’t want to lose that. Part of the mission is to maintain that feeling of friendliness and wholesomeness. That’s unique for a city this size. At the same time, talking to people provides information that I can take back and share with the department, which has not had the reputation of going out having those in-depth conversations. You don’t have to throw rocks at the window and protest, just come on in and I’ll talk to you.
For many people, it seems as if there has been a disconnect between IMPD and some residents of the African-American community. How can this be improved?
Neighborhood Resource Officers (NRO’s) we have put back on patrol as part of our district redistribution have the skill set and mind set to understand how to solve problems, but also build relationships. Developing relationships, or putting chips in the bank when nothing’s going wrong, is critical. It’s all about building relationships.
What are some of the misconceptions or rarely known facts about police officers?
That cops are very introverted people, and sometimes that can effect how people view us. This is a profession, believe it or not, that attracts introverted people. Recently I met with a group of ministers and they said, ‘we are introverted too.’ I never thought about it until I realized that most ministers I know, you hardly know they are in a room when they are outside of the pulpit. Well, we are the same way. We don’t walk around talking about who we are or brag. It can come across as being aloof and arrogant when you’re not as outgoing as you are when you have to do your job.
So, when an officer finally has to say something it may come across as stern, aggressive or authoritative. However, if you get in the car with the officer and have a ride along with them you would probably never see that side.
This is a job where ordinary people are required to do extraordinary work at a moment’s notice.
In order to not get isolated and make yourself known, you have to get out of the car, get to know people walk the neighborhoods and become relevant so that people do not see you as an aloof, uncaring person.
What are some of the major accomplishments in addressing crime in Indianapolis?
In five high-crime zip code areas we carefully fine-tuned and looked at what was happening in the neighborhoods and found that there were predators in those neighborhoods taking advantage of the community. When we started identifying who they are we found that some of them had a longstanding reputation and became folklore because they were able to get out of whatever situation they were in and escape the criminal justice system. Almost like John Gotti, they became the “Teflon Dons” of the community.
We are talking about people who were known gangsters in this city whose street cred was so deep that people were afraid to mention their names. Now they are off the streets, and some are six feet under. Over the last two months there has been an attack on the criminal old guard from people who are saying it is time for a change. The attack is coming from the community and clergy at funerals, wakes and marches with people saying ‘we’re not gonna’ tolerate the violence anymore.’ Then you have more people on the street side saying that violence is bad for business and somebody needs to stop it.
Next week: The Recorder takes a more personal look at Hite’s early life, the experiences that shaped his career, his favorite pastimes and his plans for the old Starbucks near Fall Creek Parkway and College Avenue.
