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INDIANAPOLIS — Crime in downtown Indianapolis has given it a slight image problem of late. But, one expert is debunking a few stigmas that have kept people from coming to downtown Indy, mainly having to do with crime.

Throughout the entirety of the Indianapolis metro, homicide numbers are down compared to 2021’s record-setting year.

Recent crimes such as shootings and stabbings that have happened in downtown Indianapolis have gotten a lot of attention. It’s attention that is certainly due, says Bob Schultz of Downtown Indy, Inc. But, he also urges you to put it in perspective.

“Downtown is the safest district in the (Marion) county,” Schultz told Indy Politics. “It’s less than 5-percent of all crime that happens city-wide or county-wide occurs downtown. That means 95-percent of all crime that is happening in the community, is happening outside of downtown.”

Schultz said that downtown is always under the microscope when it comes to violent crime more than other parts of the city or county because people have a relationship with the downtown district.

“The majority of all crime that does happen (downtown) is brought into downtown,” Schultz added. “It’s frustrations of people that it gets resolved as a bar, or gets resolved across the canal, with people taking violent steps and it doesn’t belong here. It frustrates us obviously.”

To that end, Schultz says the statistics show that crime is down 53-percent in the downtown area compared to previous years. That’s due, in part, he says, to a good partnership with Indianapolis Metro Police.

He added that the more people that come to downtown Indy, the less crime happens. Schultz said, “density (of people) pushes crime away.”