INDIANAPOLIS — The year 2020 was a record-setting year for homicides. Indy Mayor Joe Hogsett and Indy Metro Police have a plan in hopes 2021 won’t end the same way.
“We’ve doubled down on community-based beat policing,” said IMPD Chief Randal Taylor. “Expanding our model to shrink the geographic area that officers are responsible for allowing neighbors to better know the officers who serve them and foster stronger police-community partnerships.”
In 2020, Indy gave out $750,000 for public safety initiatives to try and make downtown safer:
- Increased foot/bike patrols
- Safety Ambassador program that employs 4 Hoosiers and IMPD cadets to help downtown patrons and business owners communicate with IMPD
- Added 16 businesses to IMPD’s b-link program
- New mobile cameras positioned in crime hotspots.
“Any incidents of violence in our city is one too many,” said Taylor. “We grieve with all the families who have been impacted by the recent violence.”
In addition to the public safety initiatives, Taylor says they are also partnering with the DVN to provide safe housing for survivors of domestic violence, and have multiple grant programs focused on community-based violence prevention. He said they are also working with health and hospital corporations to expand their behavioral health services.
“We must seek to know why this is happening to better combat this deadly violence,” said Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett.
