Chief Hite outlines safety plan for Summer Celebration weekend
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – Friday afternoon, Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department Chief Rick Hite and other public safety officials will discuss the safety plan ahead of one of the busiest weekends of the summer.
Thousands of people will be downtown for Indiana Black Expo’s Summer Celebration. This weekend will be the final and biggest weekend of Summer Celebration.
Public safety officials have been developing a plan to prepare for the influx of thousands of people. IMPD Chief Hite, Deputy Chief of Homeland Security Michael Bates and Commander of Homeland Security Ted Fries spoke about the plan at 1 p.m. in front of IMPD headquarters.
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Last year, hundreds of police officers were stationed downtown for Summer Celebration. IBE has been working with public safety leaders for the past five years to make sure everyone stays safe downtown. The groups started to work together on safety plans after a violent weekend in 2010 when 10 people were shot. Since then, the weekends have been mostly peaceful.
Indy Ten Point Coalition will be out patrolling, as they are during most large events, but they say they’ll be scaling back their efforts downtown. Typically, they have about 100 people patrolling but this year it will be about half that.
If you want to bring your family downtown, there are several new events happening this year. One of the biggest is Reggie Wayne’s celebrity basketball game. The Amp Harris & Reggie Wayne Saving our Youth Celebrity Basketball Game will feature Flex Alexander, Lil J, Trevor Jackson, Robert Mathis, TY Hilton, George Hill, Stephen Bishop, Paul George, Gary Brackett, Erica Ash, Jessie Usher, Wesley Johnathan, Antwan Tanner, Kid Capri, and more. The game starts at 6 p.m. in the Indiana Convention Center Hall J.
In the Cultural Arts Pavilion inside the Indiana Convention Center, there will be the “Your Life Matters” exhibit. The exhibit will spotlight eleven extraordinary positive male role models in Indianapolis. Their life stories are told through the likeness of children.
Finally, there will be the Selma to Montgomery photo exhibit and auction. Organizers said the photo exhibit documents the quest for equality and social justice through powerful, historic black and white and color photographs from the archives of photographer Stephen Somerstein, depicting Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Coretta Scott King, Martin Luther King, Sr., James Baldwin, Joan Baez, Harry Belefonte, Clarence Williams, Cleveland Robinson, Bayard Rustin, A. Philip Randolph, John Lewis, Juanita Abernathy, Ralph Abernathy, and others.
It is open Friday through Sunday and will also be in the Cultural Arts Pavilion. Proceeds from the auction of these historic prints will go to Indiana Black Expo’s Scholarship Fund. Bidding ends Sunday at 4 pm.
For more information about the events click here.