Briggs: Indianapolis' new police chief Chris Bailey will make you mad

One day into his new job as Indianapolis police chief, Chris Bailey started talking. And kept talking. And talked some more.

Bailey has more important work to do than almost anyone in the city. Nonetheless, he subjected himself to a gauntlet of media interviews — including with IndyStar's Alexandria Burris and then again with IndyStar's Gregg Doyel — to explain how he'll lead the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.

Whatever he does, this much is clear: You're going to know what Bailey thinks. And it's probably going to make you mad.

"I think people are looking for the person that's in charge of the largest police department in the state to have some opinions on things and to be a leader in certain areas that politicians either can't, or won't, or the community doesn't have a voice," Bailey told me. "When it comes to the defense of the upper officers, that's something I will do when they're right and, when they're wrong, they can expect the same level of condemnation."

There's a lot to unpack in that simple statement. Mirror Indy's Ryan Martin pointed to a few instances when Bailey has expressed strong, potentially explosive, opinions in the past: In 2017, he gave credence to concerns that the city wasn't doing enough to protect witnesses to shootings; in 2018, he said the officers who shot Aaron Bailey, an unarmed Black man, should be fired; and, in 2018, he opposed neighborhood sweeps as a tactic to stem rising crime numbers, saying that it leads to "mass incarceration" and makes police an "occupying force."

Bailey's history suggests there will be tension ahead — both with activists who are skeptical of police and with the police union.

Rick Snyder, the head of the Indianapolis Fraternal Order of Police, issued a brief statement, saying, "We look forward to working with Chief Bailey to keep the IMPD moving forward."

Bailey knows how that works. The clock is ticking on whatever grace period a police chief gets. It'll end as soon as he makes a decision rank-and-file officers don't like, or when he doesn't respond to an incident the way some members of the community would like.

"There's going to be a time where I'm going to make a decision (officers) don't like," Bailey said. "That's the nature of my job. That's what I have to do. But that doesn't mean that you're not supported. That doesn't mean I don't care. It doesn't mean that I don't recognize that the vast majority of you are doing what's right every single day. And that's my message."

That message is a complex tightrope of supporting his officers and earning trust from the community. He cares about getting it right on both sides. Because he cares, it's going to be impossible to avoid tipping in one direction or the other and veering back and forth.

Anyone who stays on the job of big-city police chief long enough hears calls from somewhere — often multiple directions at once — for them to lose their job. Those calls from corners of the community grew louder in recent months even for Randal Taylor, a chief who served with a gentle spirit and gave little cause for offense.

Bailey is not a gentle spirit. He admitted to me there were times when he approached Taylor "stomping my feet, pinching my nose, throwing a temper tantrum." He took lessons from Taylor's calmness, but he didn't get a personality transplant. Bailey is going to raise the intensity of the police chief job.

Sometimes people will like that. Sometimes they won't. Either way, Indianapolis is about to hear a lot more from its police chief.

IMPD is entering an era of radical candor.

Contact James Briggs at 317-444-4732 or james.briggs@indystar.com. Follow him on X and Threads at @JamesEBriggs.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IMPD Chief Chris Bailey balances FOP, activists