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South Bend Mayor, law enforcement leaders deliver first quarterly public safety update

South Bend Mayor James Mueller (center) and city law enforcement leaders gave their first quarterly public safety update Thursday, Jan. 27.
Gemma DiCarlo/WVPE News
South Bend Mayor James Mueller (center) and city law enforcement leaders gave their first quarterly public safety update Thursday, Jan. 27.

South Bend Mayor James Mueller and city law enforcement leaders held their first quarterly public safety update Thursday.

The goal of the updates is to keep the community informed on violent crime trends and what law enforcement is doing to address them.

“We know that violent crime has a lot of root causes as well, and there are longer-term strategies that the city is working on. That is not the focus of these updates,” Mueller said. “This is more of — what are the direct intervention strategies, what is our law enforcement doing and what are we working on with the community to get these numbers down.”

Thursday’s update touched on gun violence trends in 2021 — compared to 2020, incidents of gun violence in South Bend rose almost 20 percent.

However, criminally assaulted shootings decreased by about 10 percent, from 133 to 121.

“That’s not something we’re proud of or happy with. Being over 100 shootings is a bit absurd,” Operations Division Chief Dan Skibins said. “As the chief has said before, any shooting is too many.”

The city’s Group Violence Intervention program aims to reduce group-related gun violence by connecting group members to community resources and “offering opportunities for help to break the cycle of violence.”

Program leaders have conducted 283 “custom notifications” since January 2020, or conversations with group members about their future and legal risk. Of those, only 27 percent returned as a suspect or a victim in a future gun violence incident.

“The question we always get is, ‘Does GVI work?’” Group Violence Supervisor Isaac Hunt said. “Yes, for those who want to accept services. No, for those who don’t want to accept services.”

The update also touched on the SBPD’s takeover of homicide cases following the dissolution of the County Metro Homicide Unit last year.

Police Chief Scott Ruszkowski said the department has investigated five homicides since taking over investigations. Individuals have been charged in three of those cases, and suspects have been identified in the other two.

Panelists encouraged community members with more questions to attend the “Meet the Mayor and Team SB” event next month. That will take place from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 8, at the O’Brien Fitness Center.

You can also find law enforcement information online through the SBPD’s Transparency Hub.

Contact Gemma at gdicarlo@wvpe.org or follow her on Twitter at @gemma_dicarlo.

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Gemma DiCarlo came to Indiana by way of Athens, Georgia. She graduated from the University of Georgia in 2020 with a degree in Journalism and certificates in New Media and Sustainability. She has radio experience from her time as associate producer of Athens News Matters, the flagship public affairs program at WUGA-FM.