Neighborhoods in need get special IMPD, volunteer focus
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – Neighborhoods in need across the Indy are getting special attention from the city and groups ready to help.
Part one of the effort is swift and stern. The second is sympathetic and supportive.
Help comes in many forms. On a particular day on the east side, some people might not like how it looks.
“This is a particularly messy block,” Julie Fidler said to the group of people circled around here as they stood in a parking lot ready to work.
Fidler is a housing and services specialist with the city of Indianapolis. Standing by her side were officers with IMPD, parole, corrections, probation, paramedics, members of the Marion County Health department, code enforcement and a FBI agent. We’ll call this group the “Enforcement Squad.”
“If you see a violation, write it up,” she advised everyone. The collection of law enforcement and city departments teamed up to clean up a specific neighborhood spanning only a few city blocks.
They did parole checks and served a warrant on a woman who stopped reporting to her parole officer. When they found her she was taken into custody, but not before Fidler spent several minutes talking with the woman to ensure she was on the right path to turning her life around.
“It goes right along with the (Chief Troy Riggs’) overall goal of reducing crime, reducing the fear of crime, and enhancing public safety,” said Sgt. Brandon Mills, IMPD East District. “If we can accomplish all those three things, we’re going to be able to improve the quality of life of the people that were living there.”
But cops and cuffs isn’t the only approach.
“Anything we do there’s a carrot and a stick and the second day was definitely the carrot,” he said.
Standing in the same parking lot a day later, Fidler addressed a new group. “Today is all about how can we help,” she told them.
Back on the same block, a new team visited every single home. 24-Hour News 8 tagged along with pastors John and Gabe from the Shepherd Community Center.
“We’re just going around and asking our neighbors what potential needs they might have,” he said to the person at the first door he approached. Sometimes the need was as simple as a smoke detector, other time the pastors reminded people how Shepherd offers programs like a mobile health clinic, legal advice, food pantry and more.
“There’s no pressure, there’s only help,” Fidler said with sincerity in her voice.
She helped coordinate the two day blitz for this neighborhood and several others. Since last fall, she said they’ve been to more than 2,000 homes across Indy.
“We want to help. That literally really is true. I know folks maybe have a little bit of hard time believing that but it’s literally true,” she added.
Neighbor Barbara Devine knows Fidler isn’t lying. The pastors had just finished talking to her when we went to her door.
“Actually it felt pretty awesome knowing that somebody outside our home is thinking about what we may or may not need, what the community needs, and if they can address that and help us out,” said Devine.
After visiting 57 properties, six people requested smoke detectors. Another person asked that IPL fix a broken street light among several other requests.
“To be able to get the door open, to have a conversation, it’s rewarding and a sense of accomplishment that they know somebody cares about them and is reaching out to them,” said Pastor Gabe.
Code enforcement and the health department will also be busy going forward. Together they opened more than 60 cases in the neighborhood they plan to address.
“For me, everything is about prevention,” said Fidler. “It’s about recidivism prevention, it’s about relapse prevention, it’s about crime prevention, it’s about violence prevention.”
And it all starts with a little bit of help.
“Every neighborhood counts. We’re not going to leave any neighborhood behind, ever,” she said.
If you feel your block or neighborhood needs the same kind of attention you can make a request through the Mayor’s Action Center online or over the phone at 317-327-4MAC (4622).