I imagine you all are as tired of reading my editorials about violence as I am writing them.
The reason the topic of crime is ever-present is because crime is ever-present and it’s getting worse. Much worse.
So when will such issues stop being topics of conversation? Can our city move past its violent occurrences? How do we fix all that is wrong with Indianapolis and make it a safer place to live?
The answers to these questions vary based on the individual you ask, but one thing is for certain: the time for action is now!
Here are some startling facts that further emphasize why the time for action needs to occur immediately:
- Last year, over 250,000 guns were stolen from homes, stores or were lost. Many of these guns were semi-automatic weapons.
- Within the last 18 months, 22 IMPD officers were shot at and nine were actually shot.
- Over the past week, three law enforcement officials died in the line of duty: Tipton County sheriff’s deputy, Jacob Calvin was killed in an automobile accident, Gary police officer Jeffrey Westerfield was found in his squad car shot in the head as he responded to shots fired related to a domestic dispute, and IMPD officer Perry Renan who was killed in a gunfight on the city’s Eastside.
Last week’s killings serve as a true wake-up call.
When people repeatedly burglarize gun shops, we have a significant problem.
When people aggressively shoot police officers with assault-style rifles typically used in wars, we have a major problem.
When upon fatally wounding police officers, people make comments such as “(the officer) should have stayed in the car,” which is what a relative of Renn’s murderer said, we have a serious problem.
And when the same types of violent crime keep occurring, not only do we have a tremendous problem, but that problem will more than likely continue to be a major issue.
So the time to act is now. We have to attack crime with the same vigor as the perpetrators who commit these heinous acts.
These are scary, uncertain times right now and there is a major disregard for human life. When someone fails to value the very existence of another human being and will shoot someone dead because they don’t possess the necessary conflict resolution skills, it is time for us to declare a state of emergency on our city.
As various community entities work to sort out the problems in Indy and devise tangible solutions, we have to do so with the same out-of-the-box approach I detailed in this column a few short weeks ago.
I commend all of the individuals (including myself) who have had multiple conversations relative to combating crime. But perhaps those conversations with other like-minded people aren’t good enough. Perhaps we have been preaching to the choir, which in turn has had little impact on truly reducing crime.
Since that is certainly a strong possibility, I propose a more grassroots and straight-forward approach: actually going to high-crime areas and talking to the people who are more directly involved with crimes.
Sure it won’t be easy, nor will it result in instantaneous solutions. But at this point, what other choice do we have? There is an obvious disregard for authority so unless we want to reside in a city that only consists of mayhem we have to exhaust all possible options in the quickest way possible.
Amos Brown makes a great point in his column below. Mayor Ballard should become a member of Mayors Against Illegal Guns if for no other reason than to learn and implement some of the initiatives that other mayoral participants have found successful. Ballard needs to get more involved. He needs to roll up his sleeves and get to work. That work should not be restricted to only delegating and holding press conferences. The mayor’s efforts to combat crime need to be more substantial and the process needs to begin immediately.
