South Bend Mayor James Mueller and city law enforcement leaders held their second quarterly public safety update Thursday afternoon.
Officials say gun violence continues to trend down in the city, with 312 incidents to date compared to 409 at this time last year.
“We hope that we’ve seen the high-water mark of the social impacts of the pandemic,” Mueller said. “We’re still going to be dealing with those social impacts for some time, but we hope that this means that we’ve seen the worst impacts, socially, from those isolation measures.”
With permitless carry set to begin July 1, Ruszkowski said it will become more difficult for officers to confiscate illegal firearms.
“I mean, you see what’s happening, not just here, but around the country. And what Texas just experienced, on top of everything else — some things need to be seriously looked at,” he said. “Not stomping on anybody’s Second Amendment [rights], but I think things really need to be looked at.”
Ruszkowski said officers have “ideas” of how to keep illegal guns off the street, but won’t know how well those ideas will work until they’re deployed.
South Bend police continue to investigate homicides following the dissolution of the County Metro Homicide Unit last year. Police have investigated 12 homicides since then, six of which resulted in arrests or charges. The remaining six are still under investigation, but suspects have been identified in all but one case.
Mueller said the city and police department are also making progress on a real-time crime center, which would use camera footage and partnerships with residents and businesses to analyze crime as it unfolds.
“Those details are being worked out, but we still aim to have at least a pilot going by the end of this calendar year,” Mueller said.
With summer on the way, Ruszkowski encouraged drivers to be mindful of pedestrians, bicycles and motorcycles, as well as children at play.
“Somebody is going to get seriously hurt or injured if we as a community — and we as parents — are not keeping a watchful eye on our kids,” he said. “It is our business as parents to keep eyes on our kids 24/7, 365. That’s what our job is.”
Contact Gemma at gdicarlo@wvpe.org or follow her on Twitter at @gemma_dicarlo.
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