Commander Ida Williams has over 34 years of law enforcement experience. She began her career as a police officer at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Indianapolis after graduating from Indiana University Bloomington in 1987. She joined the Indianapolis Police Department in 1989.
Commander Williams has earned every Police Merit Rank including being the 3rd black female in IPD/IMPD History to earn the rank of Captain.
In February 2021, the IMPD created The Community Engagement and Outreach Bureau. With all of her experience and understanding of the importance of forging diverse community relationships. Ida Williams was promoted to Commander of this new Bureau. A Bureau which now encompasses all the Units which serve our community including Diversity and Inclusion, Immigrant Outreach, Police Athletic League (PAL), Mounted Patrol, Recruiting, LGBTQ+, IMPD Cadet Program and other mentoring programs.
She is the first African American female officer in IMPD’s 16-year history to graduate from the FBI National Academy (280th Session). She is the President of the Greater Indiana Chapter of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE), a member of the Minority Police Officer’s Association (MPOA), International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), Race, Equity, and Inclusion Sub-Committee for the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI). serves on the committee for 100 Black Men Summer Academy, a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., Eastern Star Church and she is the proud mother of two adult children.
When asked what she felt her legacy to the Department and the City would be, Commander Williams stated that she was proud of those that would come behind her. She quietly mentors young minority officers to help them excel and promote within the department. Years from now she will still be the 3rd Black female Captain among a sea of women who will stand on her shoulders and walk through those doors she has left open for them.
