Coalition formed to target illegal guns

MUNCIE, Ind. – Despite three fatal shootings over a nine-day period in February, Muncie does not rank as one of Indiana’s murder meccas.

In fact, since 2000, Muncie has exceeded six homicides in a year only twice.

In Indianapolis, new records have been set for homicides in each of the past two years, with about 290 total victims in 2015-2016.

But at the same time, anti-crime efforts in targeted neighborhoods in the state capital have produced a dramatic impact, resulting in plummeting crime rates in those areas.

Those are efforts community leaders in Muncie and Delaware County would like to emulate, in part because of concerns that more violence, stemming from the growing trafficking of heroin in the area, is inevitable, and a perception that many young people in Muncie have access to handguns.

With all that in mind, Mayor Dennis Tyler – accompanied by Police Chief Joe Winkle, Sheriff Ray Dudley and Prosecutor Jeffrey Arnold – on Wednesday announced formation of The Mayor’s Council to End Gun Violence.

Tyler called the effort “an anti-gun violence initiative to get illegal guns off the streets of Muncie and to help provide positive alternatives and a safer community for all Muncie citizens.”

On hand for the announcement were Indianapolis pastor Charles Harrison – a leader of the Indianapolis Ten Point Coalition, honored by the FBI in January for achieving a significant reduction in homicides in three Indianapolis neighborhoods – and that city’s former police chief, Rick Hite.

Tyler said in seeking to “get as many illegal guns off Muncie’s streets” as possible, the Muncie council will focus on creating summer jobs for young people ages 16 to 24, creation of crisis intervention programs, and “positive community and police relations.”

The mayor said the effort would not be successful “without everybody buying into it.”

Harrison said in Indianapolis, providing young people with a paid job for even one day a week appeared to play a significant role in reducing neighborhood crime.

Meetings are planned with “the faith-based community,” neighborhood associations, not-for-profit organizations and other community groups.

Bishop Kevin Woodgett of Muncie’s Collective Coalition of Concerned Clergy said organizers realized it would “take the entire community and county working together to combat these issues.”

“This is just the beginning,” Woodgett said.

Community activists Carl Malone – who discussed the need for parents to be more vigilant in making certain their children do not have guns – and Marwin Strong, of the “Enough is enough” coalition, were also among those at Wednesday's press conference.

Prosecutor Arnold acknowledged Muncie was not yet dealing with a high number of homicides, but suggested that could change.

“It’s not so much the numbers (of slayings) that have changed,” he said. “The epidemic of heroin has changed the rules on the street. Those rules have changed so much we have to do something before it gets completely out of hand.”

Sheriff Dudley agreed that local drug-related trends were concerning.

“What we’re seeing, with the spikes in our drug activity here locally, and an increase in out-of-town people selling the drugs in our community, it’s going to increase the violence (stemming from drug trafficking),” he said.

Tyler said he would be talking to local employers about creating summer jobs for local youths. Giving young people an opportunity to work and maintain a “sustainable life style” is key to anti-violence efforts, he said.

“If we can get a few of these young men and women to trust us, the neighborhoods to trust us, we find them jobs, we find them a positive alternative lifestyle, then they can go right back out into that neighborhood and say, ‘See, this will work.’”

The mayor acknowledged the effort was in its early stages. He encouraged anyone with suggestions to contact a member of the newly formed council.

“If this works this year, in my opinion, and we can find 10 young men and women that we can put in sustainable jobs, and they can begin to have some self-worth in their lives again, this thing’s a home run to me,” Tyler said.

Contact news reporter Douglas Walker at (765) 213-5851. Follow him on Twitter: @DouglasWalkerSP.