I Knew Crime Was Bad, But…
I just got my hands on some recent raw crime data. The picture is not good. I knew crime was getting out of control in Indianapolis, but I didn’t think it was that bad. As of June 30, 2006 there were 69 homicides in Marion County. In June 2005 at this time there were only 45 homicides. In fact, the homicide rate in Indianapolis is higher than it’s ever been in the past 8 years, since 1998. Homicide has not been this bad since the Backstreet Boys were a hit, Something About Mary was in movie theatres and the FDA approved Viagra for use. (I had to throw that in there for Rush).
This morning Mayor Bart Peterson and Sheriff Frank Anderson are going to offer a tour of Liberty Hall which will hold 125 jail beds for women and free up space at the Marion County Jail. While that’s fine and good, please note more than 380 inmates were let go in April because of jail overcrowding. That means 255 inmates would still be out on the streets. That number could have been 5 inmates had City-County Council President Monroe Gray decided not to play politics and “exercise his juice” and block a proposal to rent space for the summer and house another 250 inmates.
No one will disagree that fighting crime takes a comprehensive approach. You need the cops and neighborhood residents to patrol and get the criminals off the streets and keep neighborhoods clean. You need the jail space to hold the inmates. You need the judges, prosecutors and defense attorneys to get people through the system and off to prison. You need the economic development and jobs so that people don’t turn to a life of crime in the first place. All I can say is that with more homicides being committed since Seinfeld went off the air, I knew things were bad, but this is just plain ugly.
