As apart of his last community engagement meeting of his tenure, Department of Public Safety (DPS) Director Troy Riggs discussed data the department has collected over the past six months in the city’s six high-crime focus areas. The areas of 16th Street and North Tibbs Avenue, 29th Street and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, 34th Street and North Illinois Street, 38th Street and North Sherman Drive, New York Street and North Sherman Drive, and 42nd Street and North Post Road are comprised of eight square miles and home to over 42,000 residents.
“We talk about these six focus areas like they’ve been around forever. It’s great we’re having so many conversations about them because citizens that live in these areas have a 595 percent greater likelihood of experiencing a homicide than anywhere else in Indianapolis and there is over a 600 percent chance of experiencing a shooting,” said Riggs.
Given many residents are excited about the lower crime rate, Riggs and community leaders reveal the strategies behind the decrease. One approach involves bridging the gap between the department and city neighborhoods through food pantries. They believe generational issues are the cause of today’s violence.
Cindy Hubert, Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana president and CEO said she is excited Riggs has embodied Gleaners Food Bank’s values.
“Data has helped us learn how hunger has impacted crime in the city,” said Hubert. “Hunger is an issue and many offenses are due to people being hungry.”
Community Action Relief Effort (CARE) Mobile Food Pantries have served DPS’ six focus areas since June 15 and are operated by volunteers and members of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, Emergency Medical Services, Indianapolis Fire Department and Gleaners. In just four weeks, the mobile food pantry served over 6,000 households and 23,858 families. About half of those served were under the age of 18 and over 1,000 were U.S. veterans.
“We want our DPS officers to see and to be seen in a different light. We’re providing additional resources to the community and truly building relationships,” said Hubert.
Riggs mentioned in these eight square miles where vacant housing reaches between 20-30 percent, although crime is high, many of those who commit crimes aren’t residents of the area.
In the face of discouraging statistics, DPS has made considerable improvements. A focus had been made on making quality arrests and not quantity arrests and as a result, Crime Stopper tips are up 30 percent.
Through July 6, data show the overall homicide rate is down by 20 cases from July 2014. After the first quarter of 2015, homicides were up by two in the focus areas, but are currently down by two. This is due to the quadruple homicide, which occurred in March on North Harding Street.
“If we’re going to be serious about fixing these issues, we have to be serious about looking past six months and stop looking for quick fixes. There is no quick fix. There are solutions but they require persistent pressure and activity by all of us,” stated Riggs.
In addition to the aforementioned, The Summer Youth Jobs Program raised over $55,000 in the past two years for youth and several community conversations have taken place all over the city to collect feedback from residents. These conversations have helped create the secure bond between Gleaners CARE Mobile Food Pantries and have decreased the waiting time to receive resolutions while utilizing the Citizen’s Complaint Board from an eight-month wait period to a two-month waiting period.
Treating mental health is also on the agenda of DPS.
“About 30 to 40 percent of individuals incarcerated suffer from some type of mental illness. We have to ask the question, ‘is it fair for a civilized society to use incarceration as a means to deal with the mentally ill?’” asked Riggs. “It’s not and we’re trying to change that by having officers go into these focus areas to hold mental health forums.”
The last forum welcomed over 100 people.
“We’re certainly trying to find generational solutions so we’re about long term and not short term,” said Riggs, who explained although this was his last community engagement meeting, he would like to continue participating in future gatherings and volunteer work.
Riggs has accepted a new position outside of the department and will serve as director of public safety outreach at IUPUI. Deputy Public Safety Director Valerie Washington has also accepted a position as assistant city manager for the city of Fort Worth, Texas.
Many Indianapolis residents are wondering where DPS will be headed within the next several months as many of their key leaders depart.
Last week Mayor Greg Ballard selected David Wantz, a member of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police merit board as interim DPS director.
