Other: We live just a few blocks north of Bryan Park. At 4:09AM Saturday, Jan 15 my family was woken to what sounded like 8 gunshots, followed by two more a few minutes later. These noises sounded like they originated only a couple blocks south. Then there were 2 more shots (much fainter) at about 4:19AM. I never heard any sirens. Anyone have any insight into this occurrence? What is going to be done about the current state of affairs in regards to violence and drugs in the city of Bloomington? My wife and I have been increasingly concerned with the general state of "health" in Bloomington for the last few years. We have had random weapon-bearing tweekers and would-be thieves wander/stumble into our yards and onto our porches, we have had packages stolen from porches and mailboxes, we have had items stolen from our vehicles and property. My wife even witnessed a man masturbating in public! We now have cameras set up on our property to monitor 24/7 and I have a baseball bat next to my bed that I have already had to use once to run off a potential thief. We are two productive members of the community who pay our taxes and contribute to the local economy. But, we are considering moving due to the eroding quality of Bloomington. We know many others who feel the same way. In the last week alone we have heard of at least one stabbing death and one gunshot death. And upon a bit of reading of the Bloomingtonian it appears that Bloomington is doing rather poorly overall in this category. According to BPD Chief Mike Diekhoof, from a March 2023 article in the Bloomingtonian, in 2022 in Bloomington a gun crime occurred every 2.77 days. And someone shot at someone else every 5.2 days! And this is an upward moving trend. What the hell is going on here!? The previous mayor seemed to care little about this. Is the new mayor working with you to do something about all this? What do you plan to do about it? thanks. Ian Miller
The Deputy Mayor responded and closed the case.
The particular incident was reported anecdotally at the time, but no resident called BPD to investigate the shots, so we don't have any follow-up on that. Mayor Thomson committed last year to increasing police salaries to catch up with other jurisdictions, and we are starting to see an increase in applications. BPD just hired 11 officers--the most ever--in its most recent round. It does take time to train them, but we are working toward a fully staffed police department as part of our efforts to keep Bloomington safe.
The particular incident was reported anecdotally at the time, but no resident called BPD to investigate the shots, so we don't have any follow-up on that. Mayor Thomson committed last year to increasing police salaries to catch up with other jurisdictions, and we are starting to see an increase in applications. BPD just hired 11 officers--the most ever--in its most recent round. It does take time to train them, but we are working toward a fully staffed police department as part of our efforts to keep Bloomington safe.