Sunday, December 31, 2006

Indy's Murder Rate Increase Among Top In The Nation

While a number of major cities across America experienced an increase in the number of murders during 2006 after nearly a decade of decline, Indianapolis' increase easily outpaces most other cities. Interestingly, an AP story by Karen Matthews on the subject noticeably omits Indianapolis from the discussion despite its sharp increase. I'm not sure whether her omission is a good or bad thing.

As of today, Indianapolis has recorded 153 murders, a 54% increase over last year and the most since 1998, when the city recorded a record 162 murders according to the Star's Will Higgins. Here's how Indianapolis compares to other cities based on the AP story:

  • Oakland (57%)
  • Indianapolis (54%)
  • New Haven, Connecticut (53%)
  • Houston (15%)
  • New York (10%)
  • Philadelphia (6%)
  • Cincinnati (5%)
  • Chicago (3.3%)
  • Los Angeles (-4%)
  • San Francisco (-15%)
  • New Orleans (-36%)

Why the increase? The AP story writes, "[G]angs, the easy availability of illegal guns, a disturbing tendency among young people to pull guns when they do not get the respect they demand, and, in Houston at least, an influx of Hurricane Katrina evacuees." I'm surprised the story doesn't mention drugs, which I think are driving the increasing number of homicides.

In Higgins' story, he notes that a disproportionate number of Indianapolis' murder victims, 54%, were black men. He also reports a sharp increase in the number of murders taking place in the suburban reaches of the county "in neighborhoods with a reputation for being relatively safe." Higgins' story doesn't mention drugs as a contributing factor. He does note a large number of homicides occurred during the commission of a robbery. Robberies are often associated with drug users who are trying to feed their habit.

What is clear is Indianapolis' rate is increasing dramatically compared to other U.S. cities. Mayor Peterson and other city leaders simply can't blame the problem on a growing, nationwide problem. I think the problem is Indianapolis has become a major drug distribution center. That's a problem with which Mayor Peterson and Indianapolis law enforcement will have to come to grips if they want to successfully address the problem.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mayor Bart is so hellbent on consolidating 'Rat power in the townships his people on zoning boards have thrown away the "comprehensive plan" to put in "affordable housing" [read: Democrat voter housing] in areas that are traditionally GOP. Case in point: the number of "vinyl villages" that cropped up near $200K homes in south Warren Twp. The strategy worked - in one flail swoop Warren went from GOP to 'Rat control. Now Sec. 42 housing is going in Franklin Twp on south Arlington Ave around the 6000 block. The Administration thru their enabler Jackie Nytes attempted to water down Decatur Twp but luckily the CCC could not assemble an approving vote. That's why you're now seeing the increase in crime out in the so called "traditional" safe neighborhoods.

Welcome to Gary South.

Gary R. Welsh said...

Sir Hailstone, we know the strategy of late Mayor Richard M. Daley--to pack them all into high rise housing projects--was a complete failure. Scattered housing offers the children of the poor a better chance. While the affordable housing in the outlying townships have no doubt made them more Democratic, that alone can't be offered as a reason for opposing it. Sen. Pat Miller agrees with you, though. She tried to enact legislation back in the 1990s to prevent more low-income housing from being built in Warren Township.

Anonymous said...

I agree. Even this city can learn from its public housing (which in itself IMO was a failure to begin with) - Brokenburr, The Meadows, etc. look at all the abandonded properties in Center Twp that could be knocked down and rebuilt.

Anonymous said...

The problem is that Section 8 and Section 42 housing is killing this country. When a group of people has _all_ their bad choices taken care of by another group, personal responsibility dies. This is what has happened. The future looks very bad for this country. More and more "good" people are having less kids, have kid later in life, already pay high taxes and won't have it as easy finding a high paying job. So basically we are going to have a smaller provider population while the layabouts and bums continue to pop out kid after kid after kid. If I could, I would move to a more rural state where things likely will not be as bad.

It doesn't matter if it is a house or a high rise, bad parents will breed bad kids. This really isn't even a poor issue because plenty of good people came from poor homes. Teaching to let the government take care of everything has killed this country. Get prepped while you can, the burn-off is coming.

Anonymous said...

Louisville, Kentucky just reported only 55 murders for the year as of today county-wide. That's 1/3 of the Indy rate for a county only a bit smaller than Marion. Just the outer township total for Indy exceeds the total in Louisville. Louisville's murder rate has also dropped 20% in the last two years.

http://theurbanophile.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

Be sure to check out today's Indy Star. One page in the front section to talk about the blueprint for a "World Class City" ie Indianapolis and its downtown. Then be sure to check out the Focus section. Two pages to list all the homicides this year. Now a question? How can we be a world class city with a drastic rise in crime, no funding for public safety, a mediocre(at best) public school system, and two politically(not fiscally) motivated mergers that will ruin public safety in Marion County? If the dems think they are doing the right thing by the citizens of this county, they couldn't be further from the truth. These homicides are real people, so the left-wing psychos like Wilson can just save their bs for someone who will listen to them make excuses.

Wilson46201 said...

The real life voters in Marion County listened and except for Carl Brizzi, chose Democrats, not the rightwing psychos so frequently fielded by the local GOP so well illustrated by the "anonymous" at 1:43pm.

Anonymous said...

1:43--how is an 11% increase in 06 public safety funding, "no funding?"

Kindly stick to facts, please. The arguments are strong, but not with limp excuses like that.

Anonymous said...

I was referring to the Mayor's office inability to not only pay our officers what they deserve in 2007, but also to not pay them what they earned in 2006. NO contract for over a year now. And don't say they voted the raise down. The mayor's office made the raise part of a package they knew the FOP would reject. Kind of like all those perky add-ons in Congress. Get your facts straight. They may have raised the funding, but were is the money going? Certainly not to the brave police and firefighters who would give up their life for yours, with or without a Mayor that supports them. Happy New year ,ya schmuck

Anonymous said...

before passing judgement on the murder rate, consider this:

74% of all Indy murder victims have a felony record, or 2, 3,4,5,....

another 9% are domestic homicides.

And so children, if you are not married and have no felony record, the city of Indpls is very safe.

indyernie said...

"before passing judgment on the murder rate, consider this:

74% of all Indy murder victims have a felony record, or 2, 3,4,5,....

another 9% are domestic homicides.

And so children, if you are not married and have no felony record, the city of Indpls is very safe."

And the other 17%? Are you saying they deserved it?
Death is, DEAD & GONE FOREVER.
A High Homicide Rate effects everyone.