I caught a lot of grief for a column I wrote recently arguing that local law enforcement should use its own version of “stop and frisk” as part of a strategy to address Indianapolis’ growing murder problem.
To give you an idea of how things look, as of Sept.13 Indianapolis has seen 91 murders. And as you would think, most of the suspects and victims have not been choirboys — 85 percent of the victims and 84 percent of suspects have major felonies. Blacks made up 76 percent of the victims, and nearly 40 percent of the murders occurred indoors.
I will forego my usual “self-cleaning oven” analogy, because when I say that, I am accused of being insensitive. I am also accused of being insensitive because of my support for “stop and frisk.” Well, after having a conversation Sunday with Pastor John Girton Jr., I am more convinced that “stop and frisk” done properly will work.
Girton is doing a 30-day vigil at 30th and Martin Luther King Drive to draw attention and seek solutions to some of the violence plaguing Indianapolis.
And I asked Girton about the unlicensed guns, and how do you go after the illegally possessed weapons while still respecting the Second Amendment? Girton had a pretty good response he got from a grandmother. He told me that many of the people who live with the bad guys know where the illegally possessed guns are, but are afraid to do anything, for fear of their safety. A fair point.
Just so we’re all on the same page, “stop and frisk” is defined as a situation where “a police officer who is suspicious of an individual detains the person and runs his hands lightly over the suspect’s outer garments to determine if the person is carrying a concealed weapon.” In order to do the stop and frisk, an officer must have “reasonable suspicion” that a crime is about to or has occurred. And you need more than one factor in order to determine that someone is acting suspiciously. Those factors usually include personal observations of suspicious behavior, being in an area known for guns and crime, information from other sources. In other words, we look at the totality of the circumstances in order for “stop and frisk” to work properly.
This is why I thought local law enforcement should set up a simple hotline number folks can call, so when Pookie leaves with the house with his piece, the cops know he is out, and the urban terrorist can be arrested and taken off the street. Grandma’s call and warning to law enforcement can easily give them the probable cause they would need to make the stop, frisk and subsequent arrest.
I’ll leave it to law enforcement to work out the details, but you can’t complain about police “picking on Black youth” when the family, who I argue is our first line of defense in going after the bad guys, is the one who is letting the cops know where the little “Robin Hoodlums” are.
And for those of you who don’t like my idea, here’s a fun fact. Since Girton began his campaign early this month, there have been nearly 10 murders here in Indy. Maybe if someone had been stopped and frisked, someone else might still be alive today.
Abdul-Hakim Shabazz is an attorney, political commentator and publisher of IndyPolitics.org. You an email comments to him at abdul@indypolitics.org.
