INDIANAPOLIS — The Ten-Point Coalition hopes to stop violence in Indianapolis by walking the streets at night where crime might happen. Coalition president Rev. Charles Harrison said the plan is showing results.
Harrison reported six of the nine "hot spots" patrolled by the coalition have not recorded a murder in 2024.
"A lot of people feel like nothing can be done about the violence and that we can't save our young people," Harrison said. "We've tried to say, 'Yes we can.'"
Coalition volunteers focus on the following areas:
- Butler–Tarkington (38th to 42nd streets)
- Crown Hill Zone #1 (34th to 38th streets)
- Crown Hill Zone #2 (30th to 33rd streets)
- Highland Vicinity
- 29th Street and MLK (2-block radius)
- Carriage House East Apartments (South of 42nd St. and Mitthoeffer Rd.)
- Gas Stations and businesses at 38th St. and Mitthoeffer Rd.
- Gas Station and businesses at 38th St. and German Church Rd.
- Pennsylvania Street near Shortridge High School (34th to 38th streets)
"We have to do a better job as a church community and a society in addressing why some of our young people are out there in the streets," Harrison said. "I was on the far east side and I ran into a 16-year-old and 14-year-old that were asking for money because they were hungry. If we don't address that issue, a year from now they may not be trying to get it the right way."
Butler-Tarkington is considered a success story. The coalition stepped in after 10-year-old De'Shaun Swanson was murdered on 39th and Graceland in 2015.
Residents who moved in after the coalition's presence said they consider the neighborhood friendly and extremely safe.
"It's quiet over here, it's really nice," said Nathaniel Hopkins, who moved to the 3900 block of Boulevard Place last year. "The neighbors are nice, everybody is nice around here. It's real pleasant. We couldn't ask for anything better, I love it here."
While Harrison sees Butler-Tarkington as the best-case scenario, he has acknowledges the coalition's struggles. At least five people were murdered in the Crown Hill neighborhood this year, which is on the coalition's coverage map, and two people were shot and killed last November a block away from Harrison's church.
"Every year, there has been one neighborhood that we have had trouble in," Harrison. "Next year, there's probably going to be a neighborhood. It may not be Crown Hill, it may be another neighborhood, but we cannot give up."
He said the peace the coalition has seen across their sections of Indianapolis is reason enough to not give up.
"The violence problem in many of our neighborhoods did not happen overnight and they will not be solved overnight," Harrison said.
