Melina Kennedy, Democratic candidate for mayor of Indianapolis, has renewed her commitment to implementing a bipartisan crime statistics task force after recently learning that Indianapolis was one of the only major U.S. cities that failed to submit its final 2010 crime data to the FBI.
Kennedy issued the following statement:
“The fact that Indianapolis failed to submit the city’s crime data to the FBI illustrates a failure in our city’s top public safety leaders, including the mayor and Public Safety Director Straub. This shows a lack of leadership, accountability, and is indicative of the lack of transparency in public safety. Worse, failing to meet this deadline may put the city’s ability to draw down important public funding in jeopardy.
“Crime statistics are needed to identify crime trends and important to appropriate policing. They are also important to support grant applications. And they give the public objective evidence of the success or failure of efforts to fight and prevent crime. If this information is withheld or manipulated, our city is less safe.
“It is clear that Mayor Ballard and Director Straub have been hiding issues and problems with crime statistics, and misleading the public about crime trends for political reasons. Residents feel less safe than they did four years ago and crime is up in Indianapolis. We know that aggravated assaults, like shootings on the Monon Trail or attacks at school bus stops, are up 10 percent over the last four years. And, we know that murders are up over last year.
“If we are going to reduce crime, we have to face the facts and put in place an effective crime fighting strategy and the mayor and Public Safety director are failing to do that.
“This past July, when I announced my public safety plan, which the prosecutor and sheriff have both endorsed, one of the elements of the plan was to create a bipartisan crime statistics task force. This task force will be composed of respected individuals to investigate the city’s policies and practices in gathering, reporting and distributing crime statistics for Indianapolis.
“Today (Oct. 4), I am renewing my commitment to this task force. The lack of transparency, accountability and leadership within public safety must stop. I want to take the politics out of crime statistics and crime reporting.
“The residents of Indianapolis deserve public safety to be committed to fighting crime and protecting our neighborhoods, not manipulating numbers or withholding important information from the city’s residents. One minute spent playing with the numbers is too much. We can, and we must, do better.”
Kennedy’s public safety plan is online at www.melinakennedy.com
