Hogsett introduces $400 million proposed fiscal package for 2022

INDIANAPOLIS — Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett introduced a proposed $400 million fiscal package for 2022 with a large portion focusing on crime reduction initiatives during Monday evening’s City-County Council meeting.

Hogsett said the package aims to meet the moment and “create a transformative change with investments.”

There are no proposed tax increases for the proposals.

Crime prevention

Hogsett introduced a more than $150 million three-year funding plan to invest in what he called “unprecedented” anti-crime initiatives.

“Indianapolis has experienced a tidal wave of gun violence that has swept across the US, in no small measure as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Hogsett said. “While our community reels from the effects of this national trend, the impact of each of these acts of violence has been devastatingly personal. The acknowledgment of pain felt by those scarred by violence is meaningless without action.”

The proposal includes the following:

$9 million over the next three years for crime-fighting technology, like cameras, license plate readers, digital evidence software, a 360-degree virtual training system and gunfire detection pilot program
Fund an additional 100 sworn police officers who will be exclusively assigned to community patrols
22 new civilian public safety officers who will focus on non-emergency situations
50 peacemakers trained to assist police officers, prevent conflicts and expand group violence intervention policy work
$45 million in grants over the next three years for local community organizations and groups helping reduce violence in neighborhoods
$30 million over the next three years for mental health programming
$10 million for re-entry, domestic violence services, training and youth programming

“This plan, once implemented, will save lives,” Hogsett said. “This plan, once funded, will make our city safer. And perhaps just as critically, this plan, once approved, will provide much-needed hope to residents in neighborhoods across our great city. They deserve it.”