Sunday, December 30, 2007

Year Of Violence Continues In Indy

A 25-year-old Indianapolis man was found shot to death in an eastside neighborhood yesterday. Police arrested a man yesterday who is suspected of killing a 48-year-old woman and then dumping her nude body on the city's near northside. It's a continuation of what has been another year of an excessive amount of violent crime here in Indianapolis. By one count, there have been 122 murders to date in the city this year. That's well below the number of homicides last year and an all-time record of 162 homicides set back in 1998 when Steve Goldsmith was mayor and Scott Newman, the man chosen by Mayor-elect Greg Ballard to be the city's new Public Safety Director, was county prosecutor. Indianapolis' murder rate had steadily fallen beginning in 1999 until it shot up last year to 153 homicides. Do murder rates run in cycles like the weather, or are they more directly related to the performance of the persons in charge of law enforcement efforts? It seems when the crime rates are falling, the answer is the guys in charge are doing a good job. If the crime rates are on the rise, the folks in charge typically attribute it to a natural wave nationally or blame it on a bad economy.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Scott Newman and Goldsmith are the people who started the decline of our city. Then Bart Lies took over.Now Scott Newman is back? Funny that the police complained that the new consolidated police department was too political under the elected sheriff, so Greg Ballard selects a previously elected prosecutor? So much for Ballard's promises~ A Republican politican is just as bad as a Democratic politican!

Anonymous said...

Yes, crime does run in cycles, and you know it. Violent crime always shoots up during economically depressed periods, no matter who's running the show. Goldsmith didn't cause the record murder rate any more than Peterson caused this season's numbers. Cops don't ever stop murders. The question is only how well they do at catching them, and how well prosecutors do at jailing them. That's a far more important set of stats than just a body count.

Anonymous said...

let's also not forget the effect of drugs on our murder rate....I remember back around 1995-97 when the crack cocaine scourge hit Indy -- our murder rate soared -- it's really irrelevant who is mayor or police chief -- the druggies and dealers really don't give a s**t who's in power as they work the streets

Anonymous said...

The cause is the socialist agenda, lack of education. in addition to the pop culture which has brought a decline in morals-It's okay to be unwed and have children you can't support and do not have a clue as to raising a responsible, educated adult.Sleeze, low living, is glorified, ignored, and educational pursuits are not the stuff of news. Individual responsibily is gone- I can see it, in everything we do- no one can step up or own up. In addition, the police are powerless. They round them up and the judge sends them back out. Laws are not followed and lawabiding citizens and the real taxpayers can see this regarding the entitlement situation,immigration etc. Good luck to those that are trying- re Mayor Ballard and his appointees. Give them a chance. In the meantime, some of you complainers, time for you all to step up.

Anonymous said...

Cops don't ever stop murders.

So whenever a cop has time to do traffic and ends up confiscating a gun, your telling us that gun could have never been used in a murder? That at least for the next few hours, days, weeks, months, or years, there is no way a cop prevented a murder by taking that gun?

Anonymous said...

With that logic, "gun-free" Washington DC should be a public safety Valhalla.

Anonymous said...

With that logic, "gun-free" Washington DC should be a public safety Valhalla.

If the cops take guns off the street, then those guns can't kill anyone if they are destroyed or never claimed from the property room. Thus, cops do prevent homicides. Doesn't mean other homicides won't happen, just that I think there are situations in which police have prevented killings.