While Mayor Ballard is clamoring to build a new Chinatown, my neighborhood has apparently been overrun by the Mongol horde. Someone please build a big wall soon!
Not only did I get a gun stuck in my face on Thursday night, but on Friday night there was a shooting a block away. A young man was killed. On Saturday morning our elderly next door neighbor's house was broken into at 8:30 in the morning; the intruder(s) stole his television and ransacked his house. The neighbor across the street from him had an attempted break-in recently too.
The neighbors and I have been e-mailing back and forth about the recent crime wave and as I sat on the porch this morning reading the last night's horror stories, I watched an SUV pull up and drop off a hooker. The neighbors have also had problems with prostitutes in the area, but the sheer number of pick ups and drop offs is starting to rival the bus stop.
One neighbor, has been e-mailing back and forth with an Indianapolis Star reporter and shared part of their correspondence with me. She's given me permission to share part of what she wrote with our readers. (I've removed our street name and block number for my own security. With thousands of readers from across the country, it only takes one nutcase...)
I've lived on the 100 block north on Drexel Ave for 2-1/2 years and find myself baffled at the crime in my neighborhood. My family has personally been victimized by robbery on a number of occasions, an attempted home invasion that was unsuccessful, and vandalism, but my neighbors have been less fortunate. Over the past 90 days, there have been 127 incidents logged within a ΒΌ mile radius from my home, many of which involved personal violence or theft.
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To be honest, I don't want to move. I'm sure you're wondering why, given the numbers above, but I couldn't ask for better friends and neighbors. On my block, the population is comprised of professionals, law enforcement, healthcare workers, concerned community members and volunteers. However, despite living near such wonderful and friendly people, our neighborhood has been on the radar for individuals that seek to take what isn't theirs, hurt the innocent and push drugs and sex as a means to financial gain. In speaking with families that have been in my area for many years, this apparently has been a consistent pattern with only minor interruptions as IMPD launches the occasional prostitution sting within close proximity, but the effects are always short-lived.I'm scared for the present and afraid for the future of my community. We're tired of being targeted and are desperate for Mayor Ballard to pull out all the stops and do something defining about this situation. Our streets are overflowing with criminals on the east side that are being churned through a system that is overcrowded and understaffed. It's time to put an end to this and make Indianapolis worthy of the world-class reputation we so highly touted in order to clinch the 2012 Superbowl.
My question is: What do we need to do in order to get the kind of response from IMPD and the Mayor's office that could quell this upswing in crime?
Apparently we need to build a big wall. Maybe if Ballard thought we could attract tourist dollars, he'd be willing to do something about this crime wave.
Bil, your anger is misplaced. Don't blame a mayor who has been in office for five months. There is only so much he can do. Blame the judges in this town who have been on the bench much longer and have a much greater impact on crime prevention. Both Democrat and Republican, they all share blame.
Don't believe everything you hear about our "overcrowded" system. If our system is so overcrowded, why did we have ship prisoners from Arizona? BECAUSE WE HAD TOO MUCH PRISON SPACE!!!
You think crime is taken seriously in this town? Go down and visit court sometime. Just make sure you blend in, because Judges act much differently if they know someone is watching them.
Go down to drug court, and see people convicted of A Felony Dealing in Cocaine or Meth cases get 2 years of probation.
Go down to any of the other major felony courts and see people with 30 years of criminal history get home detention (which is designed for beginning offenders to allow them to remain in the community and continue working) for the latest of their offenses.
See victims show up for court, testify at trial and sentencing, think the Judge has given the defendant a harsh sentence and sent to prison, and that they have gained a measure of justice. Come back a few months or a year later and look at the file and see that the Judge, oftentimes without even telling the Prosecutor, quietly modified the defendant's sentence when no one is looking.
See Judges read the riot act to defendants, and see the defendant pretend to take it seriously, but laugh on the inside because they know they can always get one more chance.
See Defendants pick up case after case after case, and get released again and again and again on their mere promise to behave.
See Judges set ridiciously low bonds, see Defendants post those bonds, and then not show up for court. See bondsmen then file motions asking to be released from the bond. The whole point of a bondsman is to produce the defendant if he fails to appear. The 10% cash the defendant gives him provides insurance and the funds to go fetch him. Having to pay the whole bond if you don't produce the defendant ensures you will keep your word to the court. Nice work if you can get it, huh, you get to keep the money and don't have to actually do the job you are paid to do. Take a stroll by all the bondsmen by the CCB. Look at their wanted pictures. See how many Hispanics are there. Do you think they are still in the area? Of course not-they went back to their home country. Why would any bondsmen guarantee the appearance of an illegal immigrant who can disappear at any time? Because they don't have to actually do any work or pay any money!
See Judges whine and cajole, trying to get the parties to either continue out or plead a jury, all so they don't have to do the biggest part of their job. A job they make $120,000 a year doing, and if they do it for 10 years, get a pension for life of half that amount.
See Judges who actually sentence people harshly get dealt with pretty quickly by the defense bar. See Judges who rely on the defense bar for campaign contribution and judicial survey ratings not want to do much to jeopardize their scores, their cushy 120k jobs, and their pension.
No, Bil, don't blame Mayor Ballard. The best police force in the world can arrest every criminal and solve every crime, but if justice is done and the criminals remain on the street, the cycle just continues.
chuck | June 10, 2008 10:57 PM
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