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BROWNSBURG
METROPOLITAN POLICE DEPARTMENT
The
Brownsburg Metropolitan Police Department was established in 1916 and functioned
as a part-time Town Marshal system. In
the early 1950’s, a full-time Town Marshal was appointed and one (1) Deputy
hired. In those days, runs were answered by the town telephone
switchboard operator and sent to the Marshal on duty by illuminating a light
hanging on the Town Hall. When the
Marshal saw the light, he called or stopped by the office to receive the
dispatch. By 1962 the Brownsburg
Metropolitan Police Department had grown to three (3) full-time Marshals. The Town Marshal would report one (1) time a month to the
Town Board as to the activity for the month.
Activity in those days was confined to “dogs running at large”,
traffic accidents and security issues. Calls
for service were about fifteen (15) a week.
For the year 2000, the Brownsburg Police Department responded to fifteen
thousand seven hundred seventy (15,770) total calls for service.
The department has responded to fourteen thousand nine hundred seventy
one (14,971) calls for service through November 13th of this year.
By 1970, the Brownsburg Police Department had grown to seven (7)
full-time Marshal’s. Activity had
grown to about one hundred (100) calls for service per month.
In the fall elections of 1970, the voters of Brownsburg elected to
establish a Metropolitan Police Department and in 1971 the Brownsburg
Metropolitan Police Department began.
In 1988 the Town Council appointed as its
Chief of Police Frank McCoskey. Chief
McCoskey quickly set to the task of transforming Brownsburg Police Department
from the “small town” force to the progressive, innovative and professional
police department it is considered to be today.
The 1990 census found the population of
Brownsburg to be slightly over seven thousand six hundred (7,600) persons. The 2000 census found Brownsburg to be in excess of fourteen
thousand five hundred (14,500).
In 1991, the Brownsburg Police Department
taught in its first D.A.R.E. class to approximately SEVENTY-FIVE (75) students
in three (3) elementary schools. The
first D.A.R.E. classes were taught as a test of the program by one instructor.
Today, the Brownsburg Police Department teaches D.A.R.E. in five (5)
elementary schools, Kindergarten, Junior High and High School to over two
thousand (2,000) students with three (3) instructors.
1996 found the Brownsburg Police Department
involved in the process of receiving National accreditation by the Commission on
Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies.
Accreditation by the department required addressing in excess of four
hundred standards developed by leading professionals in the private and Public
Safety sector including the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP),
National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE), National
Sheriffs’ Association (NSA) and the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF).
The Brownsburg Police Department received its initial accreditation in
August of 1996, only the 9th Law Enforcement Agency in the state to
accomplish such a task. The
department received re-accredited status August of 1999, and will undergo
another rigorous on-site August of 2002.
1997 found the department moving into the
newly constructed Public Safety building, a joint facility of the Police
department and Fire Territory. The
department moved from a 1917 Carnegie Library building with roughly thirty
employees into a facility offering ten times the space we had been operating
from. The Town of Brownsburg is
currently considering building another facility for the department due to the
Town’s constant growth.
The
end of 1999 found Chief McCoskey retiring and a new leader taking over to move
the department into the 21st Century.
Chief David Galloway took
over after being with the department for 27 years.
With an ever increasing population and department growth, Chief Galloway
had to review the five year plan for the department and establish a vision for
the future to include traffic patterns, annexation, staffing and security.
One of the first challenges being faced was a range facility for the
department to utilize. Early 2001 found the Town of Brownsburg purchasing an out of
business baseball academy. Chief
Galloway and staff began the task of turning this into an indoor range and
training facility for the department.
Today, the Brownsburg Metropolitan Police
Department, headed by Chief Steve Carroll, has twenty-nine (29) sworn Police Officers, twelve (12) full time
Civilian staff, five (5) part time civilian staff and fifteen (15) non-paid
Reserve Police Officers. The
service area the department covers is approximately four-thousand six-hundred
(4,600) acres, seven and one half (7.5) square miles and an estimated fifty
seven (57) road miles.
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