Frustration erupts as leaders announce plan to fight crime
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — After a surge of violence in Indianapolis, City-County councilors and leaders with the Fraternal Order of Police met Monday morning at the City Market to introduce a plan to deal with crime.
“Our city is hemorrhaging right now, and we’ve got to stop the bleeding,” said Rick Snyder, president of the Indianapolis FOP.
“My family has been losing members left and right. My 13-year-old cousins died,” James Wilson, with Circle Up Indy, told the gathering of officials Monday. “My family lived with that. It’s beyond everything anybody can possibly know.. It’s not a speech up here that we can deliver.”
There were raw emotions and strong words.
“Enough is enough!” Malinda Coleman, of Indianapolis, explained with tears streaming down her face Monday. “It stops with our children and all the killing that’s so normal to us. It is not normal.”
The frustration of many people forced to deal with death in the city came to the surface during the conference, as the announcement of a public safety summit ended with shouts from the crowd.
“We’ve been putting people in jail for years and still, look at us. It’s not the answer,” said Kyra Harvey, of Indianapolis. “We have to come up with something better. I would say getting people out of poverty is No.1.”
The leading Republican on the City-County Council wants to bring what he calls real voices and solutions to the table. Democratic Councilor Dan Boots was among city leaders presenting the plan on stage Monday. Mowery insisted the summit would be bipartisan.
“Hopefully, when at the conclusion of this or during the time we have these summits, we see a reduction in some of the violent crime. I think we’ve seen it running rampant this year alone,” said Mowery, who represents District 25.
News 8 asked Snyder why the plan wasn’t to work directly with the police chief and mayor to come up with solutions.
“We’ve been trying to do that for many months,” Snyder explained Monday. “I’m confident that we can get there. What we’ve been asking for the last several months is: Where’s the outrage? We’ve been asking that of our leaders.”
Mowery and others asked for community involvement for the summit.
“I’ll have to wait until I see it. I can’t believe anything. I’ve been in these meetings for many years, from all the way up, top down,” Wilson said.
“When called upon, I would not hesitate to stand for righteousness and justice. So, I’m all in,” Coleman said.
The details of the summit had not been announced on Monday.
