INDIANAPOLIS — On Dec. 11, Indianapolis leadership announced a comprehensive violence reduction strategy in partnership with Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department and the Office of Public Health and Safety. The initiative will result in a collaborative crackdown on illegally-armed felons while making the largest investment in neighborhood and community based anti-crime efforts in more than a decade.
Despite unacceptable levels of violence this year, results indicate that the focus on neighborhood crime prevention is working — homicides are down 29 percent in areas of the city that have seen a return to beat policing. In response, Mayor Hogsett is doubling down on this strategy in 2018.
The program calls for a crackdown on illegal possession of guns by violent criminals. IMPD will disrupt the spread of violence by targeting the cycle of drugs and illegally-possessed firearms in neighborhoods. This will include a focus on:
• Working with local, state, and federal law enforcement partners to identify and prosecute violent offenders who have illegally armed themselves.
• Coordinating with United States Attorney Josh Minkler’s office to assign multiple Assistant United States Attorneys to each IMPD district, developing federal cases against those involved in gun violence and their associates.
· Establishing a Crime Gun Intelligence Center to connect shell casings and firearms in real-time to better inform local law enforcement intelligence.
· Encouraging communication between street-level community activists and neighborhood leaders to identify individuals who are encouraging violent behavior – and those seeking to escape the cycle of violence.
In addition, the initiative invests in neighborhood-based programs currently fighting the spread of violence. Community liaisons will work with IMPD to engage violent felons and their known associates with positive community engagement. This will include:
· The hiring of a Director of Community Violence Reduction to coordinate and manage the community intervention component between law enforcement partners, community groups, and neighborhoods.
· The hiring of four Indy Peacemakers – activists from local neighborhoods with diverse backgrounds that give them credibility at the street level – to provide day-to-day operational assistance to neighborhoods and community groups engaged in violence prevention.
· A partnership with IMPD District Councils to focus on individuals at risk of committing a violent crime, or be a victim of one, and their known associates for targeted intervention by community members.
By expanding and focusing resources in targeted areas, wrap-around services for violence prevention can be directed at those most in need. New initiatives include:
· Partnering with local hospitals to expand Ezkenazi Hospital’s Prescription for Hope model, meeting victims of violent crimes when they enter the emergency room and connecting them with social services.
· Investing approximately $300,000 a year for the next three years into neighborhoods to support evidence-based violence prevention and reduction strategies and services.
· Providing capacity building training and technical assistance to neighborhood organizations and IMPD’s District Council to develop and implement evidence-based violence reduction strategies.