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If a state lawmaker gets his way, a governor’s appointee, a state-appointed board and the Indiana Attorney General would oversee policy and prosecution in downtown Indianapolis instead of the mayor and prosecutor chosen by local voters.
The bold proposal would also place control of road maintenance, fire department services and other services offered by the city within the Mile Square into the hands of state officials. It comes from State Sen. Michael Young, who told IBJ repeatedly in an interview that the elected officials the legislation would disempower are “incompetent.”
Young’s proposal—announced in a press release Thursday afternoon—comes after an Indianapolis police union leader urged state intervention in Indianapolis due to a string of deadly shootings in the city’s core involving juveniles. Indiana Gov. Mike Braun has threatened to take action if the city’s leadership doesn’t make changes, but hasn’t specified what state intervention would look like.
Under Young’s plan, a state-controlled board would be funded by Mile Square-generated revenue from the food and beverage taxes as well as property taxes. The board would be entirely state-appointed, with two board members appointed by the Senate, two from the House of Representatives and one appointed by the governor.
The governor would appoint a commissioner to act in a “mayoral” role, with the board acting in a “council” role, Young said.
They would “administer the adoption of ordinances, law enforcement, the fire department, road maintenance and any other service offered by a city within the Square Mile and other major facilities run by the Capital Improvement Board,” he said.
Young defended the plan’s potential criticism over state overreach by saying that Indianapolis residents should be more concerned about safety than whether “the incompetent people that were elected stay in charge.”
IBJ has requested comment from both the Mayor’s Office and the Marion County prosecutor. In response to recent critiques, Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett has pointed to the city’s declining murder rate, which has steadily decreased since a record high in 2020. The Prosecutor’s Office has pointed to recent charges filed by the office, including charging 11 people related to an Independence Day weekend mass shooting.
“These efforts are a reflection of our commitment to actively prosecuting violent crime. Prosecutors and our law enforcement partners in Marion County will continue to focus on our community—not on politics,” Michael Leffler, spokesman for the office, said in a written statement.
If it is ultimately introduced during the next General Assembly and passed, Young’s plan would allow Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita, a Republican, to prosecute crimes in the Mile Square instead of Mears, the elected Democratic prosecutor.
The proposal mimics previous legislation, including a 2021 bill that would have created a five-member, state-appointed board to oversee IMPD that targeted Mears by aiming to reel in “noncompliant prosecutors.”
The proposal is called “Make Indianapolis Safe Again.” abbreviated MISA.
Young says his proposal is a “starting point” intended in part to send a message that the Legislature is taking issue with crime in Indianapolis seriously. The proposal hasn’t officially been filed and the state’s nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency hasn’t had the opportunity to evaluate the proposal’s fiscal impact or legal implications.
He said he has discussed the legislation with Republican colleagues who represent Indianapolis at the Statehouse, the Governor’s Office and the Office of the Attorney General. However, he would not provide specifics on their reception due to the proposal’s early stage.
Although Young has spent 25 years in the Indiana Senate, the Speedway Republican has become somewhat of an outsider. He resigned from the Senate Republican caucus in 2022 amid a debate about Indiana’s abortion legislation.
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