New data could help track Indiana police "wandering officers" accused of misconduct

A new data tool could help the public track the employment history of police officers across Indiana, potentially shedding light on whether departments are hiring "wandering officers" — officers who move from department to department despite allegations of misconduct.

The National Police Index, developed by the nonprofit journalism organization Invisible Institute, maintains and tracks police employment data across the United States.

Currently, the tool includes data from 23 states including Indiana, with more on the way. However, some states are excluded due to legal or technical barriers.

Ben Grunwald, a Duke University law professor who has studied "wandering officers" throughout the country, said that with better data, police departments can prevent hiring officers with backgrounds of misconduct.

"One way to help agencies not hire problematic officers is to have a complete database where they can call up the post and find out about every single job they've held in law enforcement in the state," Grunwald said. "That can help them surface red flags."

In 2021, Indiana lawmakers passed legislation establishing a process for decertifying officers who commit misconduct through the Indiana Law Enforcement Training Board. This measure aims to prevent officers with misconduct histories from being re-employed by other departments and becoming "wandering officers."

The decertification process allows the state’s Law Enforcement Training Board to strip officers of their certification if they're convicted of a felony or misdemeanor.Since 2021, 31 officers have been decertified, according to the Law Enforcement Training Board.

Police executives must report any discipline to the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy Director within 30 days, even if an officer resigns or retires before any criminal violation investigation is over.

Jeff Cardella, acriminal defense attorney and expungement lawyer in Indianapolis, said that although the data is a step in the right direction for transparency for the public, it will require deeper digging to find out why officers left departments.

"The best antiseptic is transparency," Cardella said. "The way towards truth is for people to have more information, especially the public to have that information."

But if police departments aren’t firing officers who commit misconduct, the data might not reflect officers who shouldn’t be hired at other departments, he said. The data relies on the state to maintain accurate data, and departments to terminate officers when they commit misconduct, Cardella said.

"A lot of times [for] the police officers who engage in wrongdoing, there is no discipline, so there is never going to be a paper trail of this that will be making it into these databases," Cardella said.

Farrah Anderson is an Investigative Health Reporter at WFYI and Side Effects Public Media. Contact her at fanderson@wfyi.org. Follow her on X @farrahsoa.