State v. Oddi-Smith
| Decision Date | 09 January 2008 |
| Docket Number | No. 49S00-0710-CR-396.,49S00-0710-CR-396. |
| Citation | 878 N.E.2d 1245 |
| Parties | STATE of Indiana, Appellant (Plaintiff below), v. Cheryl ODDI-SMITH, Appellee (Defendant below). |
| Court | Indiana Supreme Court |
James H. Voyles, Jr., Indianapolis, Annie Fierek, Brownsburg, IN, Attorneys for Appellee.
On Petition to Transfer Pursuant to Indiana Appellate Rule 56(A)
The trial court suppressed all the evidence from appellee Cheryl Oddi-Smith's drunk driving arrest. It held that the arresting officer had no law enforcement authority because he had not been re-sworn after the consolidation of the Indianapolis Police Department (IPD) and the Marion County Sheriff's Department (MCSD). We hold that all sworn officers of the IPD or MCSD at the time of consolidation satisfied the oath requirement for officers in the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department (IMPD).
A section of the article on Unigov in Indianapolis, Ind.Code § 36-3-1-5.1, authorizes the city-county legislative body to consolidate the city police department and the county sheriff's department. On December 19, 2005, the City-County Council of the City of Indianapolis and Marion County passed General Ordinance No. 110. It established the IMPD and directed that the IPD and MCSD "shall coordinate their financial and purchasing operations through the [IMPD]" and "may collaborate regarding information technology, personnel and administration as they deem appropriate and beneficial to the public" effective January 1, 2006. Indianapolis/Marion County, Ind., Rev.Code of the Consolidated City and County § 279-102(b) (2007).
The IMPD officially assumed responsibility for providing law enforcement services in Marion County on January 1, 2007. Id. § 279-102(c). On that date, all IPD and MCSD officers automatically became officers of the IMPD. Id. § 279-103(a). The sheriff and other highranking officers attended a voluntary swearing-in ceremony the next day, but most officers were not in attendance. (Mot. Supress Hr'g Tr. at 4, 6, June 19, 2007.)
On January 15, 2007, Cheryl Oddi-Smith was involved in a three-car accident. Shortly after arriving at the scene, officers began a DUI investigation. Due to unfavorable road conditions, they transported Oddi-Smith to the police department, where Officer William Bueckers subsequently arrested her for operating a vehicle while intoxicated. Officer Bueckers had been sworn as an IPD officer in August 2001, but had not been re-sworn as an officer for the IMPD.
The State charged Oddi-Smith with operating a vehicle while intoxicated. Oddi-Smith filed a motion to suppress evidence from her traffic stop and arrest contending that Officer Bueckers lacked authority to perform her arrest. The trial court granted Oddi-Smith's motion to suppress and sua sponte dismissed the charges against her, finding that Officer Bueckers was not statutorily or constitutionally empowered to enforce the laws of Indiana. The State appealed, and we authorized a direct appeal to this Court. Ind. Appellate Rule 56(A).
We begin by examining whether Indiana law requires law enforcement officers to take an oath before beginning official duties. A portion of the Indiana Code governing state and local government administration provides that "every officer and every deputy, before entering on the officer's or deputy's official duties, shall take an oath to support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Indiana, and that the officer or deputy will faithfully discharge the duties of such office." Ind.Code Ann. § 5-4-1-1(a) (West 2007).
The inclusion of law enforcement officers in this requirement of oaths seems plain enough, as does the purpose of such a mandate.1 Law enforcement officers hold positions of substantial public responsibility. As with the oaths we require of witnesses and jurors, the oaths of officers bind the conscience of the affiant and emphasize the solemnity of the duty at hand. See Ind. Const. art. I, § 8; Ind.Code Ann. § 34-45-1-2 (West 2007); cf. Modesitt v. State, 578 N.E.2d 649, 653 (Ind. 1991); Sides v. State, 693 N.E.2d 1310, 1312 (Ind.1998) (). We also observe that departments have believed for as long as anyone can recall that the carefully recruited and trained individuals appointed to the force needed to be "sworn officers." We think this is correct.
We now turn to the issue at hand: whether Indiana law requires an officer to be re-sworn upon consolidation of a city police department and a county sheriff's department or whether the officer's sworn status carries forward to this newly consolidated entity. We first look to Indiana statute for guidance.
The primary purpose in statutory interpretation is to ascertain and give effect to the legislature's intent. Hendrix v. State, 759 N.E.2d 1045 (Ind.2001). The best evidence of that intent is the language of the statute itself, and we strive to give the words in a statute their plain and ordinary meaning. Id. A statute should be examined as a whole, avoiding excessive reliance upon a strict literal meaning or the selective reading of individual words. Sales v. State, 723 N.E.2d 416 (Ind.2000). The Court presumes that the legislature intended for the statutory language to be applied in a logical manner consistent with the statute's underlying policy and goals. B.K.C. v. State, 781 N.E.2d 1157 (Ind.Ct. App.2003).
The legislature's enactment authorizing combination of the two departments leaves substantial flexibility to the local legislative body. As respects the eligibility of officers in the consolidated entity, Ind.Code § 36-3-1-5.1(e)(2) provides only that the consolidating ordinance "must specify which law enforcement officers of the police department and which law enforcement officers of the county sheriff's department shall be law enforcement officers of the consolidated law enforcement department." The statute does not impose any additional requirements on officers, such as passing a new examination or re-swearing. Rather, the statute dictates that the officers selected by the city-county council "shall be" officers of the consolidated organization, contemplating an automatic transition into active law enforcement duty.
Moreover, the statute provides that former officers of the sheriff's department or city police department who continue service after consolidation must retain their accrued pension fund or trust benefits and service credits earned during employment. Ind.Code Ann. § 36-3-1-5.1(e)(4)-(5) (West 2007). This mandatory continuing accrual...
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..."[t]he primary purpose in statutory interpretation is to ascertain and give effect to the legislature's intent." State v. Oddi-Smith, 878 N.E.2d 1245, 1248 (Ind.2008). The statute itself is the best evidence of legislative intent, "and we strive to give the words in the statute their plain ......
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