Riggs, Ballard to introduce DPS changes

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - Just three months on the job and Public Safety Director Troy Riggs is ready to make changes.

Tuesday, he and Mayor Greg Ballard will introduce a list of initiatives to make the Department of Public Safety more efficient and transparent.

Director Riggs said this plan is all about city departments and citizens working together. A combination he calls tough to beat.

"I think we have the opportunity to do some things here in the City of Indianapolis that other people throughout the nation wish they could do," Riggs said.

"Obviously, there are some issues. However, there's also a good foundation here. There's been some good things done in the past," he said.

Riggs points to the response to the Southside explosion, and recent snowstorm. But he wants his department to go beyond that.

Riggs said he's met with nearly all of the city departments and community groups.

Earlier this year, he even held a meeting with members of the Ten Point Coalition and Faith Based community. They talked about strategy, setting goals, and how to fight crime in the community.

Riggs said for the first time, city departments will be working side-by-side with citizens in the community to create teams. Not only will these teams look at serious issues facing the community, but come up with solutions to fix them.

"It will be fully transparent; no one will have to file an open records requests to see these. Once these teams get up and going, citizens will simply be able to go to the website; read who's on the team, the mission of the team,  all the supporting documents," he said.

Riggs said he's confident in this plan and anticipates within a year other city leaders coming to Indy to see how it's being done.

"I think it’s a great city; great potential in the department of public safety and by working with the community we'll get the job done," he said.

Riggs said about 25 to 30 teams will be made up of citizens and workers in different city department to help make this all work. He said sometimes they will have to talk about some difficult issues facing the city.

We will get more details Tuesday afternoon. Look for an update on 24-Hour-News 8 at 5 p.m.