Pubdate: Thu, 10 Nov 2005 Source: Indianapolis Star (IN) 55/1006 Copyright: 2005 Indianapolis Newspapers Inc. Contact: http://www.indystar.com/help/contact/letters.html Website: http://www.starnews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/210 Author: Vic Ryckaert and Kevin Corcoran Robberies Up 18% In Marion County CRIME SOARS: POLICE BLAME DRUGS, BUT SOME SAY LIGHT SENTENCES ARE AT FAULT AS WELL Rick Singh continues to work at the convenience store where his cousin was shot to death last month, haunted by the bloody images of the robbery. "I saw the video. I have images of it every single day," said Singh, 24. "You never know when somebody will come in and put a gun to your head." Armed robberies in Marion County -- some of them with deadly consequences -- are up 18 percent over the first 10 months of this year compared with same time period a year ago. In addition to Palwinder "Raj" Singh, 22, three men have been killed in robberies in Marion County over the past month: another businessman, a retired dance instructor and a construction worker from Illinois. Indianapolis Police Department detectives have investigated 992 armed robberies so far this year, up from 800 over the same 10-month period in 2004 -- a 24 percent increase. One weekend last month, there were 43 armed robberies. The spike in violence comes at a time when violent crime seems to be going down nationally. Robberies nationwide also are on the decline. Sgt. Columbus Ricks, a supervisor of the nine-detective squad that handles most of the robbery cases for IPD, said officers are doing all they can. "Less than 1 percent of the population is doing all these crimes," Ricks said. "The public is going to be the people who (help) put these criminals away." The reasons for the increase are tough to pinpoint, but Ricks and others blame illegal drugs. "Drugs seem to be the motivating factor behind the majority of these robberies," said Speedway Police Chief Jeffrey Dine, whose department saw 36 robberies through October of this year compared with 20 over the same time period in 2004. "Unfortunately, people don't seem to value other people's property or other people's lives very much anymore." Some suburban police departments outside of Marion County are experiencing increases too, but what they are seeing doesn't compare in size and scope with what is happening in areas patrolled by city police and the Marion County Sheriff's Department. In part, the difference is leading some criminal justice officials to offer a third potential explanation for the increase in robberies: inadequate punishment for lesser crimes and limited jail space in Marion County's overburdened court system. The Human Cost Four recent robberies that crossed racial and demographic lines exemplify the toll this crime wave is taking: * Marion County sheriff's deputies say Jeffrey A. Treadway, 46, stole about $200 after he beat 82-year-old Donald Carroll with a brick Oct. 15 inside his home in the 6000 block of East Washington Street. Carroll, a World War II veteran and former dance instructor, died the next day from head injuries. * Police say Joseph Pryor was looking for drugs Oct. 16 when he used a stolen passkey to enter room 247 at the Speedway Super 8 Motel, 2602 N. High School Road. Once inside, Pryor fatally stabbed James Santelli, a construction worker from Illinois who was in town to install windows at an Indianapolis high school, police say. The take: about $150. * Singh was killed in his family's convenience store Oct. 22 after three men came into the Eastside shop waving a gun and demanding money. During a struggle for the gun, Singh was shot. The robber got no money. Adam Rogers, 22, Indianapolis, has been charged in Singh's slaying. * Clarence Williams Jr., 43, a Haughville community leader, was fatally shot Oct. 26 in his restaurant at 10th Street and King Avenue. Edrick Williams, 23, said he shot Williams, no relation, to give himself more time to escape when the robbery turned out to be more difficult to pull off than he had imagined. "I guess people are in more desperate need of resources," said Olgen Williams, executive director of Christamore House, a social service center in Haughville. He is not related to either man. "They are predators. Predators have no respect for a person. They feel this is the easy way." The effect of the armed robberies can go well beyond the people involved, Williams said. Some business owners have reacted by installing bulletproof glass, which protects clerks but sends an unspoken message to customers and others that neighborhoods are not safe. "Outside people don't want to spend money in your community, which in turn impacts that business," Williams said. "It's a great concern." The Singh family will be adding bulletproof glass around the cash register at their Tobacco Road gas station, 3155 English Ave. But the new barrier isn't likely to make anyone in the family feel much better. "It's been really hard," said Rick Singh, who was the last family member to see Raj Singh alive when he left the shop hours before the botched robbery. Rick Singh knows it could have been him. He was behind the counter in August when robbers hit the store. Drugs And The Economy Nationally, the rate of violent crime declined about 2 percentage points last year, continuing a decade-long trend for serious offenses, according to the FBI's Uniform Crime Report, a compilation of crime data provided by state and local law enforcement agencies. Last year, there were 401,326 robberies nationally, down about 13,000 from 2003. The robbery rate declined by 4 percentage points, to about 137 for every 100,000 people. Robert B. Turner, the city's public safety director, blames "larger and larger quantities of drugs" such as crack and methamphetamine flowing into Marion County for the increase in property crimes like auto theft and burglary -- and, now, robberies. "People want things right away. They want things they have not earned," he said. "I don't think there's a simple solution. There will always be peaks in crime." Indianapolis' lagging local economy may be another factor driving the trend. Ricks, the IPD robbery section supervisor, said younger men -- late teens to early 20s -- are committing many of the robberies. Ricks said the young robbers typically have poor educations and no skills to obtain high-paying jobs. He said they view crime as a means to quick, easy money. Marion County's unemployment rate was 5.5 percent in August, slightly higher than the state and national rates of about 5 percent, a level at which the labor force is generally considered fully employed. An Indiana University economist says local pocketbooks have taken a beating over the past several years, with the bankruptcy of ATA Airlines and the sales of Galyans Trading Co. and Great Lakes Chemical Co. eliminating many high paying jobs. That, in turn, has reduced demand for fast food and other goods and services provided by lower-paid workers. Economist Phil Powell of IU's Kelley School of Business said the Indianapolis-area economy is "anemic." The median family income for Central Indiana families declined by $2,240 from 2002 to 2003, compared with a drop of $491 per family nationally. Lagging Sentences Nearby counties have not experienced the same explosive growth in armed robberies. The number of Hendricks County holdups has gone up, for example, but that seems mostly related to the rapid population growth. There has been little spillover from Marion County, said Prosecutor Patricia Baldwin. Johnson County authorities noticed an increase in robbers coming from Marion County last year, when the number of robberies reported reached 21, up from 14 in 2003, Prosecutor Lance Hamner said. But so far this year, 10 robberies have been reported. Hamner attributes the decrease to stiffer sentences for robbery than Marion County hands out: "You cross the line, and you'll do twice the time." He said Johnson County armed robbery sentences average 13.5 years. First offenders in Marion County are more likely to get six-year sentences, unless confinement or other extenuating circumstances are involved. Repeat offenders are more likely to get 10 years in prison. No one should be surprised by the increase in armed robberies locally, said Jason Hutchens, deputy director of research and public policy for the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute, a state planning agency. The word is out in Marion County that "there's not a lot of punishment out there" because the Marion County Jail is full, said Hutchens, who used to coordinate the county's anti-violence efforts. Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi said he's trying to deliver a stronger message by seeking life in prison without parole against defendants in the four recent robbery cases that resulted in deaths. "I think we need more police officers, not less. We need more jail beds, not less. We need extra patrols. We need to be on the streets," Brizzi said. "For the past two years, we've been under this jail cap where every person who's been arrested for auto theft, burglary and other non-violent offenses has been released within hours," Brizzi said. "When they fail to appear for court, there are no consequences because you have to let out a violent offender to put them in jail.." The increase in robberies also comes as Mayor Bart Peterson pushes for consolidating IPD and the Sheriff's Department in an effort to stretch limited tax dollars further. Deputy Mayor Steve Campbell said the city can't combat increases in crime by maintaining the status quo. "We have a choice of laying off more officers or making a change," he said. "Consolidation allows us to build a strong financial footing so we can build up the police force in the future." Otherwise, he said, the city will continue to have to employ fewer officers and won't be able to react to specific crime problems. Opponents of Peterson's merger plan question whether savings will really materialize, maintaining the idea leaves too many unanswered questions about police protection. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman