Hite's Plight Continues

Interim Police Chief Rick Hite

On Friday, local news reports told us that interim IMPD Chief Rick Hite had come under fire for penning a letter of support to a Marion County criminal court judge for a sex offender facing probation violations in apparent violation of IMPD procedures. I'm hearing that his difficulties in obtaining certification as a police officer in Indiana haven't been going real smoothly either. When Ballard appointed Hite as police chief back in April, he said he knew that Hite wasn't a certified police officer in Indiana; however, he didn't view it as a stumbling block to his appointment and that he would serve in an interim role and share departmental responsibilities with others until he became certified. “I think we’re overplaying this one a bit,” Ballard said at the time. 

Indiana permits a police officer certified by another state to obtain a waiver after undergoing some basic testing and training requirements. Fox 59 News reported last month that Hite had missed a deadline for obtaining that waiver because of delays in providing the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy his Maryland police training records where he had worked as a Baltimore police officer before going to work as a deputy for former Public Safety Director Frank Straub. Hite subsequently furnished his Maryland police records to the ILEA. Yet five months after his appointment, Hite is yet to obtain a waiver for Indiana certification as a sworn police officer, a requirement he must meet before he can formally become the city's police chief.

According to a knowledgeable source, Hite obtained his Maryland certification through a grandfathering provision rather than a formal certification process after undergoing training at an accredited law enforcement agency. The source says that Hite failed the law test on a first attempt that he took at the ILEA as part of process for obtaining his Indiana waiver. An applicant is given up to three attempts to pass the exam. The source also says that Hite used a Maryland driver's license for identification purposes, even though he's been living in Indianapolis and working for the City since the summer of 2010 and has been serving as Indianapolis' interim police chief since April. "When you become a resident of Indiana, you have 60 days to obtain a new Indiana driver's license if you hold a valid driver's license from another state," according to the Bureau of Motor Vehicles' website.