Sen. Mishler Presses ILEA on Funding Requests

Horty responded that the residential model helps instill discipline and unity among trainees.

INDIANAPOLIS — State Sen. Ryan Mishler pressed Indiana Law Enforcement Academy Executive Director Timothy Horty on Wednesday about the academy’s repeated requests for additional funding, questioning why the project has far exceeded its original budget projections.

“The state funding is very much needed to finish our project, sir,” Horty told lawmakers during a budget hearing before the State Budget Committee.

Mishler, a Republican from Mishawaka, responded by listing previous appropriations to the academy.

“Yeah, I just want to read some numbers to you,” Mishler said. “We’ve got $7 million in 2020, $18 million in 2022, $11 million in 2023, and $5 million in 2024 — and now you’re asking for more. That’s $110 million we’ve invested in this. Hallelujah, it’s gone way over budget.”

He continued, “We also put $5 million into the northern Indiana training facility, and they came in under budget. So at some point, isn’t it cheaper to build more $5 million facilities around the state than to keep pumping money into ILEA?”

Horty defended the academy’s approach, emphasizing that the central campus in Plainfield serves as the state’s primary residential training site for police officers.

“Those are satellite agencies we have around the state,” Horty said. “Two-thirds of our state police officers come to Plainfield to stay. Those satellite facilities aren’t residential, so we have folks coming from as far north as South Bend and as far south as Evansville. It’s a residential facility. I agree it’s a lot of money, but this will allow us to be the envy of training facilities across the country.”

Mishler acknowledged the academy’s success but remained concerned about the cost.

“If you built smaller ones around the state at $5 million apiece with no dormitories, you’d get quite a few facilities before hitting $110 million.”

Horty responded that the residential model helps instill discipline and unity among trainees.

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