INDIANAPOLIS–Police officers in Indianapolis are finalizing their safety plan for the Fourth of July holiday weekend.
There will be more officers patrolling city streets trying to make sure people stay safe. They expect it to be a much different weekend than the Fourth of July in 2020.
“There are different strategies in place to handle the holiday weekend, especially since this is going to be the biggest holiday weekend we’ve had since the lockdown. Everybody is going to be able to be out and partake as they wish without any restrictions,” said Rebecca Lake, IMPD’s east district captain.
Lake spoke to reporters outside a Speedway gas station on Indy’s northeast side where a man was found shot to death in a car Tuesday night.
So far in 2021, there have been 122 homicides in Indianapolis in 6 months. There were 245 homicides in Indianapolis in all of 2020.
IMPD has said that they are trying to be as proactive as possible, but a shortage of officers has made things difficult.
“All these initiatives we have are great, but we need the bodies to make it work,” said IMPD Lieutenant Shane Foley.
For Foley, the ideal police force would consist of 4,000 police officers that have all the physical resources they can access — and, overall, they must be actively committed to improving the quality of life for the citizens of their community.
Last month, the leader of the Indy Ten Point Coalition Reverend Charles Harrison said it can’t just be police who fight the violence.
“Sadly, Indianapolis has become one of the most violent cities in America. Everyone has got to work together from the mayor’s office down to the neighborhoods. We gotta get involved with this issue. It seems to be getting worse and worse every year,” said Harrison in a video he posted to Twitter.
