2022 Indy budget discussions to begin, large portion to be dedicated to public safety
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — On Monday, the City-County Council will begin a series of committee meetings to discuss, review and possibly approve their portion of Mayor Joe Hogsett’s 2022 Indianapolis budget.
The plan puts $161 million toward public safety, which includes better technology for police and several new initiatives aimed at stopping crime before it has a chance to happen.
For Lanisha Jackson, the topic is complicated. As a parent, she says, crime has always been a concern. But this year, some of the trends feel more disturbing, “such as violence at school — a shooting — or the kids just becoming a little more violent,” she said.
That situation happened Friday night when Ben Davis played Carmel High School in football. During the game, police said a 16-year -old boy was shot by an 18-year-old. Hours later, the city reached 200 homicides when a man and a woman were shot while sitting in a car. The man didn’t survive.
“I mean, there’s nothing else that I can fathom as a solution other than let’s get a little more patrolling going on,” said Jackson.
More patrolling is part of the proposal. However, at a public safety walk ahead of the violent weekend, Hogsett admitted the plan won’t help much right now.
“I want to be careful about raising anyone’s level of expectation that next month or before the end of the year we’re gonna see a substantial decrease in the number,” said Hogsett.
The next full City-County Council meeting is Oct. 18. At that meeting, councilors will vote on the overall budget.