IMPD to host virtual town halls on crime; first event set for Tuesday

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department will host a series of virtual town halls on crime, with the first event scheduled for Tuesday evening.

IMPD Chief Randal Taylor will host a town hall in each police district. Taylor will begin each session with a short presentation on crime trends, crime-fighting technology, and the important role the community plays in preventing and solving crime, with a question-and-answer session to follow.

“What typically happens is the commander will give an overview of what’s going on in the particular district. He or she may have different officers that chime in on different aspects of criminal activity and different things that the district is trying to do. We also want to hear from the community — what their concerns are, how they’re feeling about how we’re doing in general, and how can they get involved,” Taylor said Tuesday on Daybreak.

Building community/police relations is a never-ending process, according to Taylor, and events like virtual town halls can help improve those relationships.

“We hope that what will happen at the end of this is that people understand IMPD better and we get to understand what their concerns are moving forward. We’ll always be striving to build those relationships where we can,” Taylor said.

IMPD says it expects the Q&A session to take up the majority of each event.