INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The president of the city’s police union on Wednesday said he wants state troopers to patrol the streets while the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department faces a critical officer shortage.

Indianapolis Fraternal Order of Police President Rick Snyder said a lack of personnel jeopardizes the safety of remaining officers, as well as the public. He pointed to this past weekend’s spinning events, in which participants attacked responding officers and state troopers, as proof, as well as last week’s incident in which someone shot at two officers conducting an investigation. Snyder pointed to recent testimony by Chief Chris Bailey that IMPD now has fewer than 1,400 officers, the lowest level since the department was formed in 2007.

Snyder said more than 450 of IMPD’s officers already have more than 20 years of service on the force, and more than 250 of those officers are age 52 or older. He said this means IMPD could lose another 200 officers to retirement by the middle of next year. To stave off short-term staffing problems, he said he is asking Indiana State Police to provide extra troopers to patrol the city’s streets.

Snyder said diverting Marion County sheriff’s deputies is not an option because they’re needed to staff the jail, which is already shorthanded.

“The Marion County Sheriff’s department, we hope, would be focusing on their primary responsibilities by law versus that of trying to supplement the IMPD,” Snyder said. “To do that would only leave that area short which, again, threatens the lives of law enforcement officers, including IMPD officers.”

Snyder said state troopers could take patrol responsibilities in neighborhoods and on roadways, as they did recently in Gary and in other communities. He said he would at least like to see state troopers surged onto Indianapolis’ streets for the next six months, long enough for IMPD to figure out how many more officers it will lose to retirement.

“They hit those goals and metrics that they were looking for to help get (Gary) back on their feet,” Snyder said. “They know what’s at stake here. It’s our capital city, folks.”

Earlier in the day, News 8 asked Bailey if he agreed with Snyder’s request for state assistance.

“If and when we get to the point where we have to make contingencies, I think that the people of Indianapolis should trust that their leader, in me, have already been thinking about these things,” Bailey said. “My team and I have been thinking about what happens when we get to certain points for some time, and we’re not there yet.”

Snyder said he wants to see several long-term fixes for IMPD’s staffing shortage in the next city budget. Chief among them, he said he wants to see significant pay raises for IMPD officers. Snyder said a police officer with 15 years of experience gets paid about $85,000 per year in Indianapolis. That same officer could make $105,000 a year in Carmel, $112,000 with the Indiana State Police and $122,000 per year in Columbus, Ohio. He said he also would like to see the department switch to 10-hour shifts from the current 8 hours to better overlap staffing at peak demand times, and he would like to see the city charge a fee on ticket sales for large events to offset the costs of assigning officers to provide security.