Tag: Bloomington Police Department

Bloomington police: Suspect in bus passenger assault charged with attempted murder

A 56-year-old Bloomington woman has been arrested and charged with attempted murder in connection with a stabbing of a public bus passenger, according to a Thursday afternoon news release from city police.

The stabbing took place the day before, on Jan. 11, according to the Bloomington police department (BPD) news release.

The assault took place Wednesday around 4:45 p.m. on a Bloomington Transit bus, when it stopped at the intersection of 4th Street and the B-Line Trail, according to the news release.

The suspect, Billie R. Davis, was initially booked into Monroe County Jail on a charge of battery, which is a level 5 felony.

But after the victim’s wounds had been cleaned at the hospital, it was determined that she had several stab wounds to her head, and the charge was amended to attempted murder. The news release describes the victim as an 18-year-old Carmel woman.

Police are asking anyone who witnessed the incident, or thinks they have more information, to call detective Rob Shrake at (812) 349-3352. Continue reading “Bloomington police: Suspect in bus passenger assault charged with attempted murder” →

Bloomington shooting suspect arrested in Spencer

A suspect in a late Tuesday afternoon shooting on Bloomington’s west side has been arrested in the town of Spencer, about 15 miles northwest of the city, according to a Bloomington police department (BPD) news release on Wednesday.

About 8 hours after he is alleged to have shot a man in the 1500 block of West Kirkwood Avenue, Lewis Robert Siegrist was arrested in Spencer, at the Speedway gas station on West Morgan Street, according to the BPD news release. At the time of his arrest, he was armed with a 9mm handgun, the news release says. Continue reading “Bloomington shooting suspect arrested in Spencer” →

[Updated: Arrest made] Sept. 1 sexual assault in downtown Bloomington parking garage: Police looking for suspect

Suspect in Sept. 1, 2022 sexual assault in the Morton Street parking garage in downtown Bloomington. Police are asking anyone with information about the suspect’s identity to call BPD detective Jon Muscato at (812) 349-3326.

[Updated on Sept. 7, at 2:25 p.m. BPD issued a news release on Sept. 7 announcing the arrest of a suspect in the case—Andre J. Hardy, a 27-year-old man from Joliet, Illinois, which is about 35 miles south of Chicago.]

In connection with a Thursday night sexual assault, Bloomington police are looking for a suspect described in a news release as a thin Black male who is believed to be taller than six feet.

Police are asking anyone who has information about the suspect’s identity to call Bloomington police detective Jon Muscato at (812) 349-3326. Continue reading “[Updated: Arrest made] Sept. 1 sexual assault in downtown Bloomington parking garage: Police looking for suspect” →

Man who was shot, drove a mile to Switchyard Park, had apparently tried to burglarize residence

In a Thursday afternoon news release, Bloomington police department (BPD) reported that a 39-year-old man found with gunshot wounds in Switchyard Park early in the morning had not been shot at that location.

The 39-year-old had apparently driven there after being shot several times when he allegedly attempted a burglary—at the home of another man he knew, about a mile away, southeast of the intersection of Hillside Drive and Henderson Street. Continue reading “Man who was shot, drove a mile to Switchyard Park, had apparently tried to burglarize residence” →

SR 46 & I-69 crash: Driver charged with reckless homicide, Bloomington police say 46-year old woman was intoxicated when she crashed SUV into truck

In a news release issued Tuesday afternoon, Bloomington police reported the outcome of their investigation into a crash on Saturday (Aug. 6), which took place at the intersection of SR 46 and the southbound entrance ramp to I-69, on the northwest edge of the city.

On Tuesday, police arrested Charity D. Hall, a 46-year-old Bloomington resident, as soon as she was released from the IU Health Bloomington hospital, where she had been taken for treatment of her crash-related injuries three days earlier.

According to the news release, Hall was taken taken to the Monroe County jail, and charged with several crimes: Operating a Motor Vehicle While Intoxicated Causing Death (level 4 felony); Operating a Motor Vehicle While Intoxicated Causing Catastrophic Injury (level 4 felony); Reckless Homicide (level 5 felony); Battery Against a Public Safety Official (level 6 felony); and Resisting Law Enforcement (class A misdemeanor).

Hall is alleged to have driven her Toyota 4Runner sport utility vehicle eastbound on SR 46 through the intersection of the southbound onramp to I-69 without stopping at the red light. The news release says she crashed into the passenger side of a teal Chevrolet S-10 pickup that had a green arrow for its left turn from SR 46 westbound onto the southbound onramp to I-69, according to the news release. Continue reading “SR 46 & I-69 crash: Driver charged with reckless homicide, Bloomington police say 46-year old woman was intoxicated when she crashed SUV into truck” →

Bloomington police look for leads in Wednesday morning killing on city’s east side

In the early morning hours of Wednesday, a 20-year-old Bloomington man was shot and killed on the city’s east side, according to a Thursday news release from Bloomington police.

Police are asking anyone with information on the case to call detective Wade Berry at (812) 339-4477. Continue reading “Bloomington police look for leads in Wednesday morning killing on city’s east side” →

Private, unarmed security for farmers market this year OK’d by Bloomington parks board

Map of parks (in purple) to be patrolled by Marshall Security under contract with Bloomington parks and recreation.
A B Square file photo from August 2019 showing two police officers talking to farmers market patrons.

Two unarmed officers from Marshall Security, a private firm, will be providing security for Bloomington’s farmers market starting with opening day on April 2.

That’s the result of action taken by Bloomington’s board of park commissioners at its regular Tuesday meeting. The board approved a $8,050 addendum to an existing contract with Marshall, which was approved by the board in late January.

The existing $278,821 contract covers patrols through the week in several parks in the central area of Bloomington, including: RCA Park, Seminary Park, B-Line Trail, Building Trades Park, Rev. Ernest D. Butler Park, Crestmont Park, Miller-Showers Park, and Waldron Hill Buskirk Park.

Approved by the board in late January, the contract runs through the end of 2022. The farmers market extends from April through November.

According to the memo to the board from community events manager Leslie Brinson, “The Bloomington Community Farmers’ Market has had uniformed [Bloomington Police Department] BPD Officers in the past and due to the limitations of BPD, the use of Marshall Security would fill this need at the Market.” Continue reading “Private, unarmed security for farmers market this year OK’d by Bloomington parks board” →

Resolution supporting $5K more for Bloomington police gets OK from city council

Since 2018, Bloomington’s police department has seen 43 sworn officers leave, 15 of them after working less than two years for BPD.
The police chief or his designee is the sergeant of arms for the city council.

A resolution that expresses support for revising the current collective bargaining agreement with the police union, to increase sworn officer pay by $5,000, was approved by Bloomington’s city council at a special meeting on Wednesday.

The vote was 7–1–1.

Dissenting on the vote were Matt Flaherty, who voted against the resolution, and Kate Rosenbarger, who abstained from the vote after participating in deliberations.

Spurring the resolution, which was sponsored by Dave Rollo, Susan Sandberg, and Ron Smith, are Bloomington police department’s (BPD’s) challenges with recruitment and retention.

Two recent resignations have dropped the number of sworn officers to 91, out of 105 that are authorized. The proposed 2022 budget provides funding for 105 sworn officers.

BPD’s union, FOP Lodge 88, has provided certified salary amounts to the state’s police pension fund for comparisons that show Bloomington ranks 68th out of 153 departments in the state.

Sandberg said at Wednesday’s meeting, “We should have been doing more to retain officers. And our failure to keep pace with competitive salaries has brought us to this critical point where action is needed now.”

Around 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, about an hour before the city council’s Wednesday sessions started, a joint statement on the resolution was issued by Bloomington mayor John Hamilton and police chief Mike Diekhoff. The statement essentially opposed the resolution. Continue reading “Resolution supporting $5K more for Bloomington police gets OK from city council” →

Bloomington corporation counsel on city council’s police pay resolution: “This is in some ways the council taking over the bargaining process.”

Each horizontal bar corresponds to a sworn officer. The left end of the bar is when they began their service. The right end of the bar is when their service ended.
Since 2018, Bloomington’s police department has seen 43 sworn officers leave, 15 of them after working less than two years for BPD.

The backdrop of a city council work session on Friday was news that another Bloomington police officer had unexpectedly left the department the day before, following on the heels of a resignation the previous week.

The focus of the work session was to consider a resolution calling for increased police pay, which the council might approve at a special meeting next Wednesday.

Weighing in at the work session against the council’s resolution was the city’s corporation counsel, Philippa Guthrie, who sees it as an intrusion into the collective bargaining process between the administration and the police union.

Guthrie said, “[The resolution] is in some ways the council taking over the bargaining process.” She added, “I’m not positive, but I believe that the $5,000 figure, or whatever else you’ve got in the resolution, would have come from the police union. So in effect, you are bargaining with the police union.”

The $5,000 figure is the amount specified in the resolution as an increase in pay for all sworn officers.

The resolution is sponsored by councilmembers Dave Rollo, Susan Sandberg, and Ron Smith. [Updated on Sept. 8 at 5:32 p.m. In a joint statement released by Bloomington mayor John Hamilton and police chief Mike Diekhoff, they discouraged the idea of re-opening the collective bargaining process. However, Hamilton and Diekhoff supported the idea of increasing the recruitment and retention pool proposed in the 2022 budget from $250,000 to $500,000. The new amount would work out to roughly $5,000 per officer.  Link: Text of 2021-09-08 joint statement]

Continue reading “Bloomington corporation counsel on city council’s police pay resolution: “This is in some ways the council taking over the bargaining process.”” →

Bloomington city council to mull resolution on “certain inadequacies within the police budget”

B Square file photo of Bloomington city councilmember Dave Rollo.
B Square file photo of Paul Post, president of the Fraternal Order of Police, Don Owens Memorial Lodge 88

The proposed 2022 budget for Bloomington’s police department will be the topic of a city council work session on Friday at noon, and a special meeting of the council set for 7:45 p.m. on Wednesday (Sept. 8).

Up for discussion will be a resolution sponsored by councilmembers Dave Rollo, Susan Sandberg and Ron Smith that “addresses certain inadequacies within the police budget,” according to Rollo.

News of the possible resolution came at the end of the city council’s Wednesday meeting, during the time when the council addresses scheduling matters.

The resolution is likely to call for an increase to the proposed 2022 police budget so that pay for officers can be bumped, which would probably require an earlier-than-scheduled reopening of the collective bargaining agreement with FOP Lodge 88.

Those are options that the city council discussed last week during its hearing on the police department’s budget. Continue reading “Bloomington city council to mull resolution on “certain inadequacies within the police budget”” →