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The next police chief for Indianapolis, Tanya Terry, thought she would spend her career as a “street cop,” doing the work of a rank-and-file officer working in the Crown Hill neighborhood.
“I thought that I would be a beat officer for the next 30 years,” Terry told IBJ on Thursday, one day after Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett announced her appointment as chief. “I loved it so much, I never really saw myself even taking a promotion process.”
But after her first 15 years with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, higher-ups encouraged Terry to become a sergeant, and she ascended through the ranks. She worked in operations, investigations in aggravated assault and homicide, and as Southwest District Commander. For the last two years, she’s worked as deputy chief of operations.
Through all of that, Terry describes herself as a “quiet professional.” She’ll make history in becoming IMPD’s first permanent female police chief, but Terry said she “doesn’t necessarily seek the spotlight.”
Despite her tendency to work behind the scenes, Terry said the outpouring of community support she received Wednesday was “incredibly overwhelming and humbling.”
“I’m eager to serve and ready to get started,” she said.
Terry will be sworn in on Feb. 2. The City-County Council will also need to vote to confirm the mayor’s appointment. It is set to introduce that proposal at the Feb. 2 meeting, a spokesperson told IBJ, and will likely give it final approval at the March meeting. She will replace Chris Bailey, the former IMPD chief who has become the mayor’s chief of staff.
IBJ spoke with Terry about her work on the force and how she might manage some key issues.
Career, work with juveniles
Terry, an officer with IMPD for 27 years, was a recruit classmate of former chief Bailey. She started in the North District, where she says she loved being a beat cop.
Although she was hesitant to seek a leadership role, she was encouraged to become a sergeant and found it rewarding to mentor younger officers.
Her career then included stints with several different sectors of the police agency, including investigations and violent crimes. As a supervisor in that division, Terry said she was able to help guide policy decisions and get a grasp on countywide violence and crime trends.
Then-Chief Randal Taylor promoted her to become commander of the Southwest District in 2021. There, she established a pre-arrest juvenile diversion program that connected youth with The Boys and Girls Club of Indianapolis and other support resources to avoid the juvenile justice system.
“Those resources, we realized through the course of our work, cannot be only focused on that particular youth, but they really need to be focused on the entire family and take a holistic approach, because oftentimes the dynamics of the family are quite powerful,” Terry told IBJ.
The program was expanded citywide during her time as deputy chief.
Indianapolis has seen several instances of teens involved in violent crime, despite a recent overall reduction in rates.
In just three weeks this past summer, more than a dozen people—many of them teens—were killed or wounded by gun violence in the city’s central business district. The incidents include a mass shooting on July 5 that killed two juveniles and injured six other people near the Indianapolis Artsgarden.
Terry, a mother of 16-year-old twins, said the birth of her children completely changed her worldview.
“When I see kids that are either the victims of violence or perpetrating violence, it breaks my heart,” Terry said. “And it’s certainly a call to action, not just for me, but for every parent, every aunt, every uncle, every neighbor … Somebody needs to do something to keep these kids from either killing each other or killing somebody else.”
Managing officer shortage
IMPD had a budget of $358 million for 2026, but is shy nearly 300 officers from its target number of more than 1,740.
During her work with operations in the last two years, Terry said she was charged directly with staffing neighborhoods. As chief, she said she’ll work in the short term to find efficiencies through police technology and support current officers to keep them on the force.
“They need to be provided with the training, and they need to be provided with proper wellness support so that they can stay healthy, both at work and at home,” she said. “And we know that if we have a healthy workforce, that’s going to translate in our interactions with every member of the community as they carry out their duties each and every day.”
Long-term, Terry said the department will look to successful police departments around the country to determine what recruiting tactics are working to strengthen IMPD’s efforts. She’ll also review the current onboarding process.
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