INDIANAPOLIS — Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett held a virtual press conference Monday to announce a new partnership between the City of Indianapolis and the NYU School of Law Criminal Justice Lab aimed at reforming public safety in Indianapolis.
The partnership will identify and on-board community partners, provide a place for public input and community dialogue, identify and analyze critical public safety data, and build community-wide consensus around an ongoing series of policy recommendations and proposals for change.
“We hope this project can serve as the catalyst for a new, community-driven and community-monitored definition of justice and public safety. This is a defining moment in our nation’s history, and it must be met with a unified vision for the future of the city of Indianapolis,” Hogsett said.
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In the press conference, Hogsett said he will initiate an independent review of protests and riots in the city from lat May into early June.
The review will look at the city's processes for public safety and criminal justice with plans to focus on prevention over enforcement.
The partnership will work to do the following:
- The first step in the project will be a public-driven convening of community members, law enforcement, public defenders, health, education, social service, housing agencies, and others. This convening is necessary to create a new definition of justice and public safety that represents equitable and fair enforcement of the law.
- Once community stakeholders have defined justice and public safety for Indianapolis, the partnership will work with them to define the specific metrics to be collected and monitored. This will require several data analysts to be hired to work alongside the city agencies to ensure they have the capacity to collect and share the data required, which NYU will manage and fund. Metrics are critical as a means to hold law enforcement agencies accountable to the standard of equitable public safety defined by the community.
- The project requires, and the City is committed to, collecting and sharing relevant data.
- At various stages, the partnership will set forth and advocate for specific, consensus-driven policies before the City-County Council or other relevant agencies.
- Finally, the partnership will create a community-driven report card that is transparent and publicly accessible on the City’s website, ensuring members of the public have a mechanism to regularly hold city-county government accountable.