INDIANAPOLIS -- Indianapolis just went 20 days without a criminal homicide – its longest murder-free streak in two years.
From March 7 toMarch 26, no criminal homicides were reported in Indianapolis.
That's the longest murder-free streak the city has seen since 2015, when no criminal homicides were reported from January 20 through February 10.
It's a bright note for a city that has seen back-to-back years of record high homicide numbers – and one that averaged more than one homicide every two-and-a-half days last year.
Former IMPD chief Troy Riggs says this is evidence that efforts by the department to make inroads with the community are paying off.
"It shows the hard work of the police officers. It shows the hard work of the community. This is not about the work that chief [Rick] Hite did or the work that I did," he said. "This is about community. This is about Indianapolis. Indianapolis residents, and the non-profit world, and the faith-based world has come together to make this a reality."
Riggs credits all that work for an 11-percent decrease in homicides last year in the city's highest-crime areas. Those areas also saw a 7-percent drop in non-fatal shootings.
Part of that has been IMPD teaming up with service organizations to provide more than just law enforcement in troubled neighborhoods where large-scale sweeps were conducted.
"We visited 2,600 homes and offered health and human services," Riggs said. "That's more homes visited than people we arrested."
Riggs acknowledges that with summer approaching, Indianapolis is likely to see a spike in violence consistent with previous years. He says that's why it's important to stay focused on developing long-term results.
"While I'm very excited about the progress that's been made, my biggest fear is that we forget that all the systemic issues that led to crime and led to homicide still exist. And we have to be focused on that long term. People can't lose sight of that," he said. "We can't claim victory if we have a good year, and I believe we will have a lower year in homicides and murders and violence in the city. Because, if we don't pay attention to these issues long term, with the data I see, one thing's for certain: It's going to be worse down the road."
"The realization that I had serving as director of public safety and chief of police was this: We are capable of having 200 homicides a year," Riggs added. "And when I say homicides, I mean criminal homicides. Murder. That's why it's important, no matter what the final tally on the murder rate is this year, we've got to be focused on it long-term to make sure that number doesn't come back up."
