INDIANAPOLIS — Recently, city officials and IMPD gathered to provide an overview of 2019 public safety data as well as a look ahead at 2020. A holistic approach to violent crime, interagency public safety collaboration, incident-based data reporting, and innovative recruiting efforts are all part of the City’s planned public safety efforts in the coming year.
In 2019, IMPD grew to 1,723 officers — the highest staffing level in the department’s history. In 2020, IMPD will continue to work toward the goal staffing level 1,743, bringing in a June recruit class, a December recruit class, and a class of lateral officers. IMPD will also shrink the size of beats, moving from a total of 78 to 106 beats in the upcoming year.
Data from the first five months of 2019 showed an overall decrease in violent and property crime, with violent crime down to 4,277 incidents from 4,463 in 2018, and property crime down to 12,785 incidents from 14,250 in 2018. For the first time in nearly ten years, the city saw a 3 percent reduction in criminal homicides from the previous year. Despite a slight decrease in clearance rate from 2018, 2019’s rate was still a 28 percet increase in clearance rating from 2017. In 2019, roughly 53.8 percent of criminal homicide cases were exceptionally cleared.
In 2019, Director Majors and four Indy Peacemakers focused on high-crime neighborhoods to conduct one-on-one interventions. In 2020, six Peacemakers, two of which focus specifically on juveniles, will work in Indianapolis neighborhoods to intervene in the lives of those at high risk of violence and connect resources to those who need them. Through the Neighborhood Enhancement Team Outreach (NETO), multiple city agencies will tackle environmental issues and provide direct services to neighborhoods recently affected by violence. Safe Summer, which provides safe and productive activities for youth on Friday and Saturday during summer months will continue. In 2019, Safe Summer served 827 attendees between July 5 and August 10. OPHS will also launch the Indy Peace Partnership in 2020, an effort to bring together community leaders from neighborhoods across the city to work as a unified entity to address violence in the Indianapolis community.
In 2019, the Indianapolis Crime Gun Intelligence Center used forensic and ballistic evidence coupled with gun crime intelligence to investigate and disrupt gun-related crime. CGIC detectives partnered with multiple agencies including Alcohol Tobacco Firearms (ATF), Indianapolis-Marion County Forensic Services Agency, U.S. Attorney’s Office- Southern District of Indiana, Marion County Prosecutor’s Office and Indiana University (Research Partner). As a result of this interagency collaboration, IMPD saw an eleven-fold increase in National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN) leads over 2017 numbers. From 2017, there has been a 3 percent increase in firearm recoveries. This increase in seizures of illegally-possessed weapons has led to 110 more firearms removed from the community in 2019 than in 2017.
In 2020, IMPD Crime Gun Intelligence Center detectives will continue toward a regional response to gun crime, add a third grant-funded Intelligence Analyst, train intelligence analysts for districts, expand training for gun liaisons, and initiate social network analysis.
The Indianapolis Violence Reduction Partnership (IVRP) continues to add law enforcement partners and expand its impact. In 2019, IMPD referred 90 individuals to the Community Violence Reduction Team. IVRP focused on 219 violent individuals, which led to 101 arrests.
In 2019, the IMPD Recruiting Unit achieved an historic 31 percent diversity numbers for women, bilingual, and multilingual members of the 20th Recruit Class. The starting salary for new recruits was raised from $37,000 to $51,000, and an incentive program was launched for officer referrals.
