Indianapolis ends 2023 with a nearly 19% decrease in criminal homicides
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Homicides on the whole in 2023 were down by 4.4% in Indianapolis, police say.
There were 216 total homicides in 2023 compared to 226 in 2022, but IMPD further broke that data down into criminal and noncriminal homicides.
Last year saw 171 criminal homicides while 2022 saw 211 criminal homicides, which is a nearly 19% decrease over the year.
In terms of noncriminal homicides, there was a sharp increase from 2022 to 2023. This past year had 45 noncriminal homicides while 2022 had just 15. That was a 200% increase.
According to police records shared with News 8, IMPD cleared 78 of 2023’s 216 homicides, or 36% of cases.
IMPD says the overall drop in violent crime is a positive change for the city.
“Our overall crime and violent crime is down and we hope those numbers continue to trend that way,” said Officer William Young. “We also hope as we go into the new year people practice learning how to manage their conflicts, especially amongst our teenagers who we’ve seen a significant number of youth violence throughout the year.”
Young says he thinks homicides declined in large part because of the community’s willingness to work with officers and other violence reduction groups. “The main reason is because of the community. I think the community is fed up with the violence and so we’ve made a significant number of arrests throughout this year based on information that was provided from tips from the community.”
Young also points out the work of IMPD in helping to reduce violence in Indianapolis. “I still want to speak to the good work the officers do. Our officers go in day in and day out. Our violence reduction teams go out to look for those who illegally possess firearms, and our officers who are beat police officers are responding to those calls.”
The homicide counts of the last two years were a drastic decrease from more than 270 in 2021.
