Randal Taylor is currently the police chief here in Indianapolis, and two clergies are calling for his resignation.
The leaders of the Concerned Clergy of Indianapolis and the Baptist Minister’s Alliance have had enough of Chief Taylor. They claim he is protecting powerful business owners while turning his back on the average citizen.
Reverend David Greene, the president of Concerned Clergy of Indianapolis, held a press conference Wednesday morning and wasted no time going after the chief, “Chief Taylor continues to protect police officers at the expense of creating a culture of accountability.”
Greene pointed out instances where, in his words, the actions of police officers were protected by Chief Taylor. When highlighting these different instances, he finished saying, “It was the recent shooting that triggered that we had enough. They were done prior to the Use of Force committee and the general order boards, etc. We had hopes that these items would shift the culture. We have now learned those items have not shifted the culture and will not shift the culture.”
The shooting he is referring to resulted in the death of Gary Dewayne Harrell.
Source: Jon Cherry / Getty
The two clergymen came with stats. They talked about how unsafe the city has been since 2020 when Chief Taylor was appointed. The clergymen pointed to the number of homicides, more than 200 a year since Taylor was appointed chief of police. They also cited and more than 700 nonfatal shootings since he became police chief.
Despite the calling for Taylor’s resignation, Mayor Joe Hogsett released a statement supporting Taylor.
“Under Chief Taylor’s leadership, IMPD has instituted many of its most important transparency and accountability measures, including body cameras for all patrol officer, the distribution of critical incident review videos, civilian majorities on the use of force and general orders boards, and more. The work of IMPD has been critical in reducing criminal homicides by 16% last year; and an additional 12% this year; alongside declines across other major crime categories. Chief Taylor has my support.”
To hear Tony Katz’s thoughts on the call for Taylor’s resignation, click the link below.
