City Workers To Visit Far East Side Residents In Effort To Connect

Members of IMPD and two other Indianapolis agencies will walk through a far east side neighborhood Friday in an attempt to engage with residents and connect them with services.

Police Chief Bryan Roach says they chose the area, around East 21st Street and Mitthoeffer Road, because it has seen increased attention from police in response to violent crime.

"That may have created a vacuum in that community," Roach says. "It also may have created situations where the police department is not viewed as much as helpful. We always seem to be coming in and taking things away, or enforcement."

Roach says they want to counterbalance those efforts with more positive interactions, some meant to address the root causes of crime. This is an example of what Roach and some city leaders refer to as community-based policing.

Teams from IMPD, the Office of Public Health and Safety, and the Department of Business and Neighborhood Services will go door to door from 3 pm to 6 pm, to speak with residents and find out what people need.

There will also be a resource fair at the nearby Warren Branch of the Indianapolis Public Library.

IMPD has gone on similar walks in the past, but Roach says the city plans to make this a regular event, to happen in a different neighborhood every month.