Riggs accepts job at IUPUI, steps down as DPS chief
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Director of Public Safety Troy Riggs has accepted a job at IUPUI as Director of Public Safety Outreach, according to officials at IUPUI.
Riggs will help lead and facilitate projects for public safety and criminal justice issues. The release also said that Riggs will teach as a clinical assistant professor with the School of Public and Environment Affairs.
Riggs called the job change “bittersweet.”
“There’s no reason Indianapolis and Indiana can’t be at the forefront of public safety,” Riggs said.
Riggs said for the past several months, he’s been getting job offers from around the country. But he said it ramped up once Mayor Ballard announced he wouldn’t seek re-election.
He eventually chose the role at IUPUI. Riggs said he and his family decided that they wanted to live in central Indiana, and this was a way for the family to set down roots in the area.
The school said Riggs will begin his new role in August.
Riggs has served with the city of Indianapolis since 2012. Before coming to Indianapolis, he held public safety positions with the Corpus Christi Police Department, Louisville Police Department and Jefferson County Police Department.KEEPING HIS CRIME-FIGHTING PLANS GOING
Piling up canned goods before people line up, volunteers were organizing today’s mobile food pantry at Barnes United Methodist Church. That’s because to Riggs, less hunger means less desperation and less crime.
“We felt like his holistic approach was a good fit for Indianapolis in addressing the issue of crime and violence,” said Reverend Charles Harrison, Ten Point Coalition leader and the pastor at Barnes United.
That approach started with a two-year review of crime and quality of life data. It found six focus areas, or intersections, in town that needed the most attention like 29th Street and Dr, Martin Luther King, Jr. Street , just around the corner from today’s pantry.
“What he was proposing to deal with public safety was cutting edge across the country,” said Harrison.
The initiative meant addressing the root problems of crime, like mental illness, vacant housing, and unemployment.
“Every decision we’ve made has been made on how does it benefit the citizens of Indianapolis,” said Riggs.
Soon someone else will be making those decisions, but Riggs is confident his crime fighting ideas will live on.
“In many areas, we are now following. We have other leaders, community leaders, and that’s a healthy thing. That means communities are stepping up and that means that they will be focused in these areas regardless of people calling it a targeted area or focused area,” he said.
In his new job at IUPUI, Riggs said he’ll continue to be a voice for public safety not only in Indianapolis but for all Hoosiers, the same people who can now put food on the table thanks to his plans.
“I look at him as an inspiration to the community, helping out the community and the less fortunate,” said Summer Christie, who was at the pantry.EXECUTING HIS TOP GOAL
When news of his resignation came out, we immediately went back to the day he was hired in September 2012 to revisit what he had planned for Indianapolis. Riggs said his top concern was increasing police patrols on the streets.
When he started the job, Riggs said only 39 percent of IMPD’s police force was actually assigned to patrols. He said with the help of IMPD Chief Rick Hite and the Fraternal Order of Police, more than 100 officers were moved back to the streets.
He said the department then hired more civilian employees which freed up officers who were forced to do civilians’ jobs. But Riggs said they still needed more people to put on the uniform.
“And then we started going to council and laying out a plan to hire additional officers. We had that public discussion, we had that public debate, and as a result we are hiring hundreds of officers over the next few years,” said Riggs.
A few months ago, Mayor Ballard approved a plan to hire 155 officers within the next year.
Outside of that goal, Riggs said he wanted to increase transparency with his department and build a stronger relationship the people they serve.
“I think the single most thing I’m proud of is the men and women of (DPS) and the way the community rallied around them,” he said. “When I arrived here it was no secret that morale was down, that the community had lost some trust in the Department of Public Safety. I think that the trust has been restored.”