Indy’s Crime Paradox: Killings Stay Near Record Pace As Overall Violence Goes Down

(INDIANAPOLIS) – Indy will either set a new homicide record this year or come close – yet violent crime overall is down.

With 13 days to go in 2018, Indianapolis has recorded 152 homicides, four fewer than last year’s record total. Including this year, the last four years will represent the four highest homicide totals in the city’s history. A new record this year would mark the seventh straight yearly increase.

But all other violent crimes — rape, robbery, and aggravated assault — are down. Violent crime was down five-percent through September, and Indianapolis Metro Police Chief Bryan Roach says he expects the final figure for the year to be about the same. Burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts are also down, for an eight-percent drop in crime overall.

Roach acknowledges people judge the department’s effectiveness primarily by the homicide rate, and says he doesn’t know why it’s not matching the declines in other areas. But he says there are signs of progress. There have been fewer homicides in the second half of the year than there were last year. And one of the biggest drops in crime is a 15{a951f02a8cac8e6d7fde2726b1b22da104131bed62748b49fddce88fa07005a6} dip in robberies, which Roach chalks up to an intensified police focus on identifying and catching serial robbers. Roach says since many homicides are connected to robberies, drug dealing, or both, making a dent in those crimes may lead to fewer killings as well.

Mayor Joe Hogsett says those numbers are grounds for hope, but nothing to celebrate. He says those totals still need to go down more.

Roach says the department plans to extend its anti-robbery strategy to gun violence in 2019. The department will zero in on the 700 or so matches it gets each year with a national ballistics database. By connecting crimes committed with the same gun, Roach says detectives can gather more evidence on the people involved in those cases, and analyze networks of contacts to put the worst violent criminals behind bars.

Police also plan to slice up the city into even smaller police beats, and expand community outreach programs to steer people away from violence. The city is adding two new “peacemakers” with community ties who can talk directly to gang members and others who can still be diverted from a life of crime. And the city has budgeted for 62 more police officers, if it can find enough recruits for those spots.

IMPD Chief Bryan Roach (Photo: Eric Berman/WIBC)