First Night
Let me start this by giving major kudos to the men and women of law enforcement in Marion County. The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, Marion County Sheriff’s Department, Indiana State Police and State Capitol Police all did an excellent job Friday night working downtown for the second weekend of Indiana Black Expo.
I did my usual working of the door the Nicky Blaine’s Cigar Lounge and between scotch and waters and gin and tonics I made my usual rounds. The officers were generally in a very good and positive mood, despite the fact a lot of them had to work and days off were cancelled this weekend.
At most I counted two arrests, one juvenile and one drunk. And officers had to break up a minor skirmish, but that was no different than any other Friday night in downtown. The merchants I spoke with were cautiously optimistic, however some did close up shop early. Also, the 10-Point Coalition and other members of the faith-based community and volunteers were out as well. And they reported no major problems either.
One thing law enforcement did this year as opposed to previous years was station 3-4 officers near major restaurants and intersections. And where there weren’t officers there were police cars, so that very heavy police presence, I thought, acted as a real deterrent to potential knuckleheads.
Of course the true test will be tonight when the young people are out en masse. However I do think if Friday night was a test run, things should run pretty smoothly tonight. I plan to report back in the morning. You can also follow me on Twitter. My tweets will start about 9 p.m.
