Kruzan Outlines City Response To Recent Violent Crimes

Kruzan Outlines City Response To Recent Violent Crimes

Date of Record: April 19, 2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 19, 2006

For additional information, contact:
Maria K. Heslin, Communications Director, City of Bloomington, 349.3569

Bloomington, IN -- Mayor Mark Kruzan detailed City government's response to the recent violent crimes committed in Bloomington.

Kruzan met Wednesday with Bloomington Police Department Deputy Chief Randy Williamson, BPD Captain and City Council Member Mike Diekhoff, Human Rights Attorney Barbara McKinney, Safe & Civil City Program Director Beverly Calender-Anderson, Parks & Recreation Department Director Mick Renneisen, Housing & Neighborhood Development Department(HAND) Director Lisa Abbott, and City Communications Director Maria Heslin to coordinate the City's response to the recent events.

"It's disheartening to have this recent cluster of violence shatter the community calm," Kruzan said, "but it's reassuring to know we have a strong City team in place and have so many citizens interested in helping address community challenges."

Kruzan said "crimes of hate and gun violence are unacceptable in this community, and our response will be swift and aggressive."

Kruzan outlined measures the City has undertaken and will implement:

• Just last year, the City initiated a five-year plan to add 10 police officers to the Bloomington Police Department. "Bloomington has a low per capita officer to citizen ratio, and we are reversing that trend," Kruzan said.
• BPD has already begun extra patrols in parks and along high pedestrian traffic routes.
• A BPD Motorcycle Patrol program will begin this weekend to increase police presence and visibility.
• The City of Bloomington's Parks & Recreation Park Patrol will run additional sweeps by and through Bryan Park.
• A neighborhood meeting designed for Bryan Park and Elm Heights neighborhood residents but open to all members of the public will be held next week.  The City will announce the time and place of the meeting by the weekend.

Police, Parks, and Neighborhood Development representatives will discuss public safety issues and answer questions at the meeting.

"We want every citizen to know how seriously we take their safety and that their input is absolutely welcome," Kruzan said.

• Existing Neighborhood Watch programs will be reinvigorated and new ones created where neighbors express an interest.
• HAND is available to meet with existing neighborhood associations or to help launch new associations to encourage more grassroots citizen involvement.
• The City Human Rights Division and the Safe & Civil City Program will be meeting with community leaders to discuss hate crime incidents and to address manners in which to combat them.

"A very important message I want to convey to all citizens is that they play a huge role in serving as the eyes and ears of our public safety system," Kruzan said. "If you see anything out of the ordinary -- even if you think it might be minor or unimportant -- you should feel free to call 911."

"It's always better to be safe than sorry," he said. "If it turns out to be nothing, all the better, but it's our job to respond to your concerns, and we stand ready to do so."

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