Inside the lobbying push that fueled arrests at Indy hospitals

(MIRROR INDY) — A decade-long lobbying effort placed police inside Indiana hospitals and upgraded criminal charges for batteries against healthcare workers.

It started in 2013, when the Indiana Hospital Association successfully pushed lawmakers to give hospitals the power to create their own police departments. In the years since, the association has lobbied to expand the jurisdiction of hospital police and to enhance penalties against people they arrest.

Federal labor data does point to a need. Healthcare workers are five times more likely to experience a workplace violence injury. The association, which represents the interests of 160 hospitals across the state, said its members were under attack.

“It’s everyone from drug-seeking individuals to mental health individuals, families on either side of a car wreck and who’s at fault, gang individuals,” lobbyist Tim Kennedy testified...