City No Longer Safe For The Elderly

If you're a multi-millionaire looking for a handout from the government for your latest business venture, you couldn't find a better city in America in which to do business than Indianapolis. But if you're a retired person living on a fixed income, you couldn't find a city where you're more likely to lose your home due to rising property taxes or, even worse, become the latest victim of the city's spiraling crime problem. The Star's Vic Ryckaert summarizes the growing number of elderly who have become the city's latest crime victims:

Over the past two years in Marion County, people older than 65 have been victims of more than 350 robberies, seven rapes, eight shootings and three homicides, according to data from the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.

And those crimes have occurred in every part of the city and county, involving whites and blacks, according to a Star analysis of the data. Other findings include:

The oldest crime victim was a 97-year-old rape victim, one of three rape victims in 2005 and 2006 who were in their 90s.

Among homicide cases, one victim was 91.

Of the robbery victims, 68 percent were white and 30 percent black, and they were evenly split between men and women. Sixty-six percent were older than 70.

Earlier this month, a 76-year-old woman was raped in her Near-Eastside home by a man who followed her as she walked home from the Interim Central Library.

Although crime rates against seniors have been declining slightly over the past 10 years, according to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, recent incidents are causing renewed concern in Indianapolis, especially on the Northside.

Three other seniors have been beaten and robbed in the Butler-Tarkington area since March 31, according to police reports.

On April 26, attackers beat 84-year-old Harold Ward when he walked in as they were burglarizing his home in the 300 block of Harvard Place. Ward, police said, suffered cuts to his head and face and a swollen right eye.

On April 16, an attacker beat Lancaster Price, 83, and his wife, Ida, 80, at the couple's home in the 4100 block of Boulevard Place. Price had a bruised left eye and scratches on his face; his wife suffered a swollen right eye.

When a 97-year-old woman has to worry about being raped in this city, you know just how bad things have gotten. Meanwhile, Mayor Peterson's attention is focused on the rich and famous as usual. His emissaries are off to Nashville with "a few tricks up their sleeves" to help win the 2011 Super Bowl bid for the city. If the city is successful in winning the bid, at the rate we're going, the city will have to block off a green zone in the one-mile square around the downtown to protect the wealthy elitists who can afford to attend the Super Bowl, and to keep out the thugs who rule our city's streets.