The Bloomington Police Department has sworn in 11 new officers, the largest group sworn in at least 35 years. The group will lessen the officer shortage.
Six of the 11 officers are already certified, which means they can work immediately, said Mayor Kerry Thomson. One of the officers previously worked for BPD for 21 ½ years.
For the past several years, BPD has had a 15-20% officer shortage; calls for service have increased 65.3% since 2020. When Thomson took office in 2024, the department had 82 officers, now just under 100, Thomson said. The department’s full authorization is 105.
“We took several steps in order to really give the officers what they needed to, not only to feel safe, but also to make sure that they were fairly compensated,” she said.
These steps include take-home vehicles, which have helped response times. Increased wages have closed some of the salary gap with other jurisdictions, such as Indiana University Police Department, the state police and Monroe County Sheriff’s Department.
“We're getting back to a place where we can do community safety, you know, above and beyond just crisis response,” Thomson said.
