The Marion County Sheriff’s Department is suing the state of Indiana over officer training.
The Department has filed suit against the Indiana Law Enforcement Training Board, arguing that ITLB refuses to train sheriff’s deputies.
More specifically, the complaint goes to de-escalation training which lawmakers mandated back in 2021.
The ITLB says that Marion County Sheriff’s deputies are “special deputies” and have no “law enforcement” responsibilities and are excluded from Law Enforcement Academy training.
The Department also says the ITLB does not believe Sheriff’s Deputies are not eligible for merit protections under state law.
In its response, the ITLB said it was only mandated to provide de-escalation training to a specific group of law enforcement officers and the Sheriff’s deputies “do not currently possess the lawful authority to enforce the State’s penal laws”, and they are “specifically excluded from the group of ‘law enforcement officers’ defined by the Indiana code.
