When it comes to the Indianapolis homicide rate this year, there’s good news and then there’s bad news. The good news is compared to last year at this time, the murder rate is actually down nearly 30 percent. We had 27 criminal homicides between Jan. 1 and March 31.
Here’s the bad news. Out of those 27 criminal homicides, 89 percent of the victims had serious prior felonies, as did a whopping 94 percent of the suspects. According to statistics released by the Department of Public Safety, 24 of the 27 victims accounted for 107 felony arrests. Those felonies include weapons and drug arrests, as well as crimes against another person. When it came to the alleged perpetrators, 16 of the 17 suspects were responsible for 61 felony arrests.
And African-Americans, who represent less than 30 percent of the city’s population, made up 70 percent of the victims.
Now I know this is the part where you expect me to say this is just “Urban Darwinism” at work and if you’re not out on 42nd & Post Road at 2 a.m. engaging in criminal activity, your chances of being a statistic are pretty much slim to none. Well, I don’t need to say that, that should be common knowledge by now. And if you can’t figure that out, you were probably on your way to being a statistic anyway.
What’s more important about those numbers is Indianapolis is apparently doing something right to sharply reduce our murder rate. A lot of credit goes to not only the men and women of law enforcement led by Public Safety Director Troy Riggs and IMPD Police Chief Rick Hite, but the fact that DPS is taking a holistic approach to fighting crime.
Adding more police officers won’t solve our crime problem alone, we must address the environment that created the crime problem in the first place, and that includes jobs, abandoned housing, mental health, offender re-entry, etc. Mayor Greg Ballard led the effort for early childhood education which helps mitigate crime long term. And 7th District Cong. Andre Carson, along with the Marion County Commission on Youth recently held a job fair at Shortridge to help put young people to work.
But government can’t and shouldn’t do it alone. Everyone has heard of the Ten Point Coalition, led by Rev. Charles Harrison. They are out in the streets trying to keep things calm when a lot of us are home in bed. But there are a lot of other groups that work with at-risk urban youth to keep them from becoming statistics in the first place.
Outreach Inc. works with homeless teens to not only help them find housing, but give them the skills they need to find a job and stability. At East Side Troopers, kids get meals and a safe place to go. Distelrath Farm on the city’s far Southeast side works with kids by showing them how to grow crops and raise livestock. Starfish, GLAM (Girls Leadership and Mentoring) as Unbound Mentoring near 17th and Broadway do some great work as well. The list goes on, Health Care Education and Training, Indiana Youth Group, Young Men Inc., Freewheelin Bikes, Pro (ACT) Community Partnerships, Big Brothers & Big Sisters, I could probably fill this entire space with great organizations that help in our fight against crime.
However, none of this hard work will do any good if the community doesn’t continue to do its part. Some can help by continuing to refuse to let what I call “Robin Hoodlums” control their neighborhoods. Others can volunteer their time or dollars to one of the many organizations that are helping to reach kids so they don’t go down the road of a life of crime.
In the fight against crime, Indy is on the right track. Let’s keep it that way.
Abdul-Hakim Shabazz is an attorney, political commentator and publisher of IndyPolitics.org. You can email him at abdul@indypolitics.org.
