INDIANAPOLIS — Last year, the Indianapolis City-County Council passed a plan to form a new general orders board for the Indianapolis Metro Police Department.
The board will be made up of four civilians and three police officers, meaning civilians will outnumber officers on the primary committee that sets policy for the police department. Two of those civilian members were appointed to the board on Monday.
They are Indiana University McKinney School of Law professor Lahny Silva and Dr. Clyde Posley, Jr., a pastor at the Antioch Baptist Church in Indy.
At a council meeting on Monday, Feb. 1, Silva was confirmed to the board with unanimous support as all 20 Democrats and all five Republicans joined them in voting to appoint her. However, Dr. Posley did not have bipartisan support.
Republican councilor Paul Annee said he raised some serious concerns about Posley from council Republicans.
“After some research, it is unclear whether this individual (Posley) lives in Marion County if they are a Marion County resident,” he said to Hammer and Nigel on 93 WIBC. “They (Posley) … voted this past year in the presidential election in Hamilton County. So we were unable to get proper documentation to show that he is officially a Marion County resident.”
Annee said without seeing that “proper documentation” Posley was pushed through and confirmed by council Democrats, who hold a supermajority on the council.
Annee said Republicans took issue with “racially charged” social media posts that he found “concerning.” He said one of the posts from Posley called prominent African-American politicians “traitors to their own culture.”
“I presented it, asked him if this was his social media,” Annee said of his questioning of Posley in the council hearing. “It was very clear it was, but the chair of the committee noted that he did not have to answer, so he didn’t really address the questions.”
Annee accused council Democrats of furthering a divide between civilians and police by appointing Posley to the new general orders board. He said the appointment “diminishes the board substantially” and will “undermine” its effectiveness.
Annee said because of the creation of this general orders board and the appointment of Posley, he said many people he knows within IMPD are looking to transfer out of the department to another police department in central Indiana.
