Two independent police departments, which Muncie has, better serves the city.
But, when one department conducts an investigation of the other, as the Muncie Police Department has done of the Ball State University Police Department, the threat of a conflict of interest arises.
The Ball State community knows Gene Burton, director of public safety at Ball State, picked the MPD to investigate the actions of Robert Duplain, the UPD officer who shot and killed Ball State student Michael McKinney. They also know that foreseeable bias exists in the MPD's probe, and they will cry foul.
Tim McKinney, Michael McKinney's father, has already expressed concern. "For the sake of objectivity, it just makes sense to me that you would have the investigating agency to be as far removed from the agency (under investigation) as possible," he said.
McKinney said he plans to request the Indiana State Police become involved in the investigation, and he's right for doing so.
It would be cynical and improper to preemptively accuse the MPD of bias in the investigation because the department is most likely fully capable of conducting it honestly and objectively.
But the circumstances are too obvious to deny. Even if the MPD's probe was by-the-book, impassioned students and residents doubt its thoroughness and impartiality. To them, this investigation seems too much like an in-house once-over.
Those students and residents who want the truth can support Tim McKinney's decision to request the involvement of the ISP. They can call, or demonstrate in front of, UPD and MPD offices. They can reinforce the idea that a lot of trust has been lost in Muncie's law enforcement.
If the departments have nothing to hide, involving the ISP would prove to the public they protect that officers are concerned with the entire truth, not their friends' version of it.
If they have nothing to hide, they have nothing to lose -- and trust to gain.
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