With a relatively recent perceived collapse in race relations, as measured by Pew, effective policing has become a hot topic again. While there are many possible solutions to the racial divide, Indianapolis shows a great, tangible option through its work with the Indianapolis Ten Point Coalition. This faith-based group acts as an intermediary between the black community and police.
In addition to volunteer patrols and reentry programs, ITPC responds, often at the request of police, to homicide scenes. There it works to calm crowds and maintain the integrity of the legal process. If ITPC suspects retaliatory crimes may soon take place, it works to stop the cycle of violence in its tracks.
ITPC works with police instead of against them. ITPC encourages a community-wide effort to stop violence and root out criminals.
While there were 144 murders in Indianapolis last year, ITPC says there were only three homicides in the neighborhoods it regularly patrols. WISH-TV interviewed Wallace Nash, a Butler Tarkington resident of 50 years and ITPC leader for the neighborhood.
“A year or so ago this was a very violent street,” he said. “This intersection here, this street period, but as you can see it is nice and quiet now.”
People are taking note of the group’s success. This January the ITPC was awarded with the FBI’s Community Leadership Award for its role in reducing violence. In March, Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill accompanied the group on patrol. After cutting off funding in 2015, it appears the city of Indianapolis will invest in the group again this year.
It is not enough to recognize groups such as ITPC. The narrative vilifying police must be countered. We have seen Americans’ views on the state of race relations collapse from a high net positive of 44 percent in April of 2009 to a net negative of four in May 2016, when their data ends, according to Pew polling.
A direct outgrowth of this polarization is movements such as Black Lives Matter, created to address the statistical discrepancy in killings of black people at the hands of police in the United States. However, Black Lives Matter is fundamentally wrong in tactics and messaging.
By defaming police and the justice system as racist, trust is destroyed between that system and the communities it protects. Instead, we need a solution that works with police to root out bad elements from both groups.
The Bureau of Justice Statistics reports in a comprehensive study that, between the years 1980 to 2008, black people committed more than half of all homicides in the United States despite accounting for only 13 percent of the population. Consider also a simulation from Washington State University that showed police officers were less likely to fire at unarmed black suspects than white ones during confrontations. Taken with FBI numbers saying 42 percent of felonious cop killers between 2005 and 2014 were black context is given to the seemingly disproportionate number of police shootings of blacks..
To save black lives, the focus must be on strengthening relations between cops and their communities. If Black Lives Matter supporters truly care, they must let go of this racist cop narrative and instead take the battle-tested methods of saving black lives that are right in front of them.
zaochamb@indiana.edu
