Crown Hill goes 1 year without a homicide

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – The Crown Hill neighborhood is now the third northwest side community to celebrate going a year without a homicide.

IMPD and the Ten Point Coalition came to this neighborhood to mark this day. And they went on one of their signature walks. But they said they couldn’t do it alone

“People have to want the neighborhood to change, and they have to support us when we try to help them change their neighborhood. And they have been helping us and supporting us,” said IMPD Officer Christine Carver

Carver has worked in Crown Hill for 20 years.

“They wanted to get rid of the crime, they help us, we’re forging a very nice bond with each other where we’re gaining trust. Through that trust we’ve been able to address the issues together and help the neighborhood improve” she said.

It’s an improvement she said she never thought would happen

“I really didn’t think it would go a whole year, I’m very proud of this neighborhood,” she said.

“No one should live in our city, no one should live here in the Crown Hill neighborhood and be fearful to go out at night. No one should be fearful to go for a bike ride,”  said Chief Troy Riggs.

Riggs said they’re branching out from here to hopefully reach other communities. IMPD will spend $20 million over the next three years in the city’s most dangerous areas.

“It’s easy to sit and think that there’s an easy solution, there’s no easy solution,” said Riggs.

He said it won’t be a top-down approach, but rather a bottom-up approach. Where they’ll go into the communities, study their unique challenges, and work with them to fix them.

“Try to create hope where there is hopelessness out here,” said Rev. Charles Harrison, of The Ten Point Coalition.

“We’re depending on them and they’re depending on us and it’s working so far,” said Carver.

The other communities that recently marked one year without a murder are Butler Tarkington and the United Northwest Area.