Murder He Wrote
I’ve been taking a look at the city’s homicide rates lately. So far, Indianapolis is at 35 murders. The official number is 36, however I don’t count police action shootings. Out of the 35 murders, 30 were male, 14 were identified as African-American, 15 were under 30 and in almost all cases the murder weapon was a firearm.
To put this in perspective, at this same point in 2009 the city had 25 murders. In 2008, 30 murders. 2007, 35 murders. And in 2006, 30 murders. The city can end up going in two directions with its homicide rate. It can drop to a near record low of 102 in 2009 or it can go through the roof like it did in 2006 to 150.
The challenge for local officials and neighborhood leaders will be to implement a comprehensive, community strategy to address the homicide issue. While you can’t stop every murder, you can do a better job of making sure repeat, violent offenders are off the street. You can also make sure areas of the city are less attractive to criminals by tackling abandoned housing, cleaning up neighborhoods, improving the quality of education by giving parents more choices and options. And you can also turn libraries scheduled for possible closing into neighborhood resource centers.
I think it can be done. However, it’s going to need to be done soon because things can spiral out of control real quick and blood can flow pretty fast.
