Indy Ten Point Coalition making trip to Louisville to talk about reducing crime
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The Indianapolis Ten Point Coalition is preparing for a meeting Thursday evening with city and community leaders in Louisville, Kentucky.
Members will talk about the growing crime in Louisville and what leaders there can do to reduce it.
Reverend Charles Harrison and several others are making the trip after receiving phone calls from groups ranging from police to clergy.
They told him they are worried about the growing crime and have plans to start their own coalition to address the problem.
Reverend Harrison and Reverend Charles Ellis spent Wednesday evening putting together a presentation to highlight the work of the Indy Ten Point Coalition.
“Our message is there can be something done to reduce the violence. You can restore hope and help make communities more safe, better when you get the village involved in really helping to address the issues of violence,” said Reverend Harrison.
Reverend Harrison is planning to share with Louisville leaders their efforts to reduce crime and their faith based patrols.
“Like many cities across the country, they are also experiencing this surging of violence problem particularly among youth and gangs,” he said.
Harrison said he has been looking over the crime numbers in Louisville. So far this year, Louisville has seen 81 homicides, which is up since 2013.
Harrison said police worry the city could break 100 homicides by the end of the year.
“They have not seen this level of violence in years, really since the ’70s, so obviously people are very very very concerned,” Rev. Harrison said.
The Indy Ten Point Coalition has seen success in three neighborhoods: Butler Tarkington, Crown Hill, and the United Northwest Area. Harrison believes the same outcome could happen in Louisville.
“We’re going there and we’re going to let them know we’re not promising them they can go three hundred days without a homicide,” Rev. Harrison said. “But what we are saying is they can cut those numbers down and make things better.”
Other members like Reverend Ellis said everyone needs to work together in the community.
“One of the key things are relationships and so certainly those relationships have benefited being able to talk to the residents in that community about violence reduction and prevention,” said Reverend Ellis.
Reverend Ellis said other city and community leaders have also reached out from areas including Muncie, and even the United Kingdom.
“At the end of the day we want to save lives. Our mission says in Indianapolis and surrounding areas, but we want to save lives anywhere we can, anything we can do to help,” said Reverend Ellis.
Reverend Ellis said city and community leaders from Louisville are planning to make a trip to Indianapolis on Oct. 19. They will go on a neighborhood patrol to see how volunteers engage with residents.