FOP Blames Courts After Downtown Indy Violence

INDIANAPOLIS — The head of the Indianapolis Fraternal Order of Police says the courts are failing to hold teenagers accountable, following another downtown shooting involving a 16-year-old.

Police say the teen shot several people early Monday near Monument Circle, shortly after thousands gathered downtown for the Pacers watch party at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

FOP President Rick Snyder says the department is already short 300 officers and now has to shift resources from other districts to cover high-profile downtown events.

Listen to the full interview with FOP President Rick Snyder here.

“Teens are taking the last buses into downtown, staying out all night, and most are armed,” Snyder said.

He says the courts and the prosecutor’s office are not taking action, and that the lack of consequences is fueling repeat violence. Recent incidents include triple shootings near the Circle and the Canal, and businesses with windows left riddled with bullet holes.

Snyder says officers are enforcing the curfew, but juvenile cases are often dismissed, sending the message that the rules don’t matter.

“You’ve got parents letting their kids go downtown with no supervision, and they know no one’s going to be held accountable,” he said.

Snyder says another frustration for Indianapolis police is that even when they build strong cases and make arrests for violent crimes, Prosecutor Ryan Mears undercuts their efforts through the same system they’re trying to support.

“It becomes a game of keeping order as best they can,” he added. “He runs around and touts convictions and long sentences for crimes like murder, but what he fails to mention is that if he had held that same offender accountable for prior offenses, the violent act might never have happened.”