As with any community, safety is a vital part of the sense of safety and security. It directly impacts the quality of life within the community. HMP is fortunate not to experience an inordinate amount of crime, but neighbors need to remain vigilant if we want to keep our neighborhood safe. This past fall and winter the HMP Board and Crime watch chairs Karla Johnson and John Carmer attempted to form a neighborhood crime watch. If 50% or more neighbors expressed an interest in a crime watch program, HMP would qualify for support from IMPD to establish the program. Over the course of several months, many attempts were made to get neighbors interested in a crime watch program. Unfortunately, of our more than 200 households in HMP, only about 30 have stated, via email that they were interested in a crime watch program. Due to the low interest in a crime watch program, we are unable to establish a viable program.
This is important because statistically, as temperatures rise so goes the crime rate. According to a report from the Department of Justice, burglaries are 10.5 percent more common in the summer than the winter. Furthermore in a Wall Street Journal report stated that in addition to the seasonal patterns in crime trends and burglaries, rates of household property victimization, household larceny, and serious violent crimes such as rape and aggravated assault were also significantly higher in summer months.
Why is this important? Temperatures are rising and HMP is behind the eight ball when it comes to an organized, efficient and effective response to crime in our neighborhood. The IMPD crime watch liaison explained in detail the limitation of the North District office. The North District is a larger area with proportionally fewer officers than other districts. It is important to be proactive, alert and aware of ones surroundings and call the police when necessary. But HMP residents should be doing everything possible to make sure that the neighborhood is not an attractive place for criminals. If you are interested in a HMP crime watch program, contact Johnson.karla67@gmail.com with your name and address. There is no need to do so again if you have already expressed an interest via email.