Violent crime up in South Bend

by Kelli Cheatham (kcheatham@wsbt.com)

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(WSBT file photo)

By WSBT News1

Story Created: Sep 24, 2008 at 5:14 AM EST

Story Updated: Sep 26, 2008 at 11:50 PM EST

SOUTH BEND — Newly released numbers show violent crime is on the rise in South Bend. Through the first eight months of 2008 the city is reporting more murders, more rapes and more aggravated assaults.

"Every murder in this community is distressing to me," said South Bend Mayor Steve Luecke. "It's distressing to our police department."

South Bend Police Chief Darryl Boykins said some of the recent homicides have been scary.

According to statistics released by the South Bend Police Department, there have been 10 murders in South Bend, 54 rapes and 235 aggravated assaults so far this year. Those numbers compared with the same time frame since 2005 and this year the numbers are higher in every category.

"I think it's unfortunately a national crisis that's going on throughout the country," said Chief Boykins.

Mayor Luecke told WSBT most of the murders in South Bend are between people who know each other, rather than random acts of violence.

But both city leaders said the possibility of massive budget cuts could make it more difficult to reduce crime numbers. Boykins says Indiana House Bill 1001 is a big factor.

"That bill came from downstate," Boykins said. "It's affected our economy, it's affected St. Joe County and it's something legislators have to look at and see how it's affected these cities."

Boykins told WSBT he plans to add officers to city streets by the first of next year. He's calling it a Street Crime Unit. But he said finding the money to pay for the new unit is out of his hands.

Mayor Luecke says his plan to counter act possible budget cuts from House Bill 1001 is to raise local income taxes.

"We're faced with some very difficult decisions over the next several months," Luecke said.

Even though South Bend does have money to spend on new developments like hotels, improvements to Coveleski Stadium and the Eddy Street Commons project, Luecke says the city cannot use money from those funds to add more police officers.

For example, if money has already been set aside for economic development, it is against Indiana law to use that money to pay for things like police and fire protection.

As those decisions loom, both city leaders insist crime in South Bend isn't out of hand.

Boykins said there isn't a place in South Bend where he feels unsafe walking by himself.

"South Bend is a safe community," said Mayor Luecke.

Both leaders say crime is not just a problem for police.

"It's a community problem," said Boykins. "And if you don't recognize that, then we're missing the boat altogether."

Luecke and Boykins also say violent crime comes in waves, but it has has slowly gone down over the past 15 years. For instance, the murder rate in 1995 was 26. In 1996, 22 people were murdered. There was also a spike in 2001 and 2002 when the murder rate was 21 and 20, respectively.

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