Indianapolis Mayor Hogsett outlines 2022 priorities for IMPD, crime
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — After two record-breaking years of homicides in the city, Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department has one priority to reduce violent crime.
Like clockwork every year, the mayor of Indianapolis sets out priorities for the police department. I-Team 8 challenged the mayor to explain how he is getting crime under control.
“Well, first and foremost, it is a unprecedented and historic level of investment that we will be making over the next three years,” Hogsett said.
The Democrat mayor said that the crime issues didn’t develop overnight and will not be solved overnight.
In Hogsett’s first year in office in 2016, Indianapolis recorded 172 homicides. Last year, that total was 271. The numbers jumped in the past two years.
How can the city bring those number down?
“Well, you have to add the fact that we are now at the end of the second year of a global (coronavirus) pandemic, which has victimized every urban area throughout the country. Now, I have acknowledged many, many times before that I’m not the mayor of those other cities. I’m the mayor of Indianapolis. I’m focused like a laser on moving the numbers downward.
“But, in direct answer to your question, I can’t attribute and wouldn’t attribute everything regarding increased levels of gun violence in our city to the effects of a global pandemic, but it certainly has played a pivotal role,” Hogsett said.
To get to the root of the crime issue will require a $150 million investment over the next three years. A portion will go toward new technology such as the purchase of license plate readers and the expansion of public safety cameras.
Hogsett also promises to continue the investment in the Indianapolis Crime Gun Intelligence Center, which, according to numbers provided by IMPD, last year helped remove hundreds of guns from the streets and resulted in 270 arrests.
The city government and its police department will increase their focus on community issues, including mental health and substance abuse. The city has hired outside data consultants to make IMPD data more available to the public, and the department will host town hall meetings in every district.
As the mayor said last year and again this year, if the numbers are not going down, we will talk.