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IMPD officers go door-to-door in northeast side neighborhood to connect with residents

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A near northeast side neighborhood hit hard by violent crime got some help from IMPD Wednesday.

Officers spread across the neighborhood in the 2200 block of Bellefontaine Street going door-to-door, but this was not a typical neighborhood sweep.

Instead, community engagement officers attempted to bridge the gap between residents living in the area and the services that are there to help them.

Police say that too often they show up at a home, help resolve an immediate issue, and leave. But the underlying cause of the problem isn’t addressed.

Wednesday, officers asked residents different kinds of questions than they usually get from police, and then showed them where they could get help solving those problems.

“There’s a city service out there somewhere. There’s an agency. There’s a group,” said Lt. Brian Churchill. “There (are) people that can help with whatever that problem was. The gap that people fall into, that law enforcement falls into is, what causes crime?”

Along with police, social service providers offered immediate help with problems facing residents. Those problems included finding ways to work with bill collectors, and calling people who can help address rundown and abandoned properties.