IMPD ‘doing everything we can’ to prevent violence, chief says
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — After a surge in violence over the past few days, Indianapolis police are doing everything they can to prevent crime, the chief said Tuesday.
Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department has investigated 107 homicides so far this year. The city’s murder rate is at an all-time high. Chief Bryan Roach said his message to people waiting to see improvement is “stick with us.”
Roach said, “The community is upset. The police department is upset. But, upset in a way that we’re working toward” improvement.
The chief said he was planning to meet with an IMPD branch dedicated to violence reduction to talk about weekend crimes.
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He said last fall was a violent season and officers are working to avoid a repeat.
“I’m not sure we know why that uptick had occurred last year and seems to be occurring this year. If we did, we would impact it but I think we are going to continue on path,” Roach said.
That path is community-oriented beat policing, a process that Roach said is improving trust between police and the community.
But, detectives are still trying to figure out who shot and killed a man at a west-side concert Saturday morning. IMPD said hundreds of people attended the show but no witnesses spoke up to police.
Roach said IMPD commanders met around 9 a.m. Tuesday to talk about crime trends they are seeing.
“We think we can have an impact, but it’s going to take all of us together,” Roach said. “Enforcement-wise everybody is talking the same message and doing the same things and focused on the same people, and we’re starting to make strides on the community side.”
It has been two months since the mayor hired Shonna Majors as the city’s first director of community violence reduction. Part of her job is working in neighborhoods to build trust between police and the community.
The mayor’s office said Majors was at home sick on Tuesday and could not meet for an interview.
“The (Majors’ violence reduction team) are starting to visit people and trying to find out what those needs are. We still need people to come forward that have an idea about what that works should look like,” Roach said.
Chicago made national headlines over the weekend after police there said 59 people were shot. Six of the victims died.
IMPD logged four homicides over the same weekend in a city with about one-third the population size of Chicago. Three more homicides were logged Monday in Indianapolis.
“I think this is a city better than the numbers, and we are going to continue to work to show that,” Roach said.
