South Bend Mayor James Mueller wants to quash talk of putting back together the St. Joseph County Metro Homicide Unit.
It’s been five years since the South Bend Police Department, citing its low officer numbers, stopped providing officers to the county homicide unit that had operated for 30 years. At a press conference Thursday Mueller presented statistics showing that South Bend detectives have solved 91% of the 88 homicides they investigated since 2021, compared to the county unit’s 54% clearance rate over the prior five years.
“We think it’s very important for people to see the overwhelming evidence that this change has been good in terms of holding violent actors accountable in our community, and ideas to revert back to a former time is really a call to have fewer homicides solved and make our community more dangerous than it is today," Mueller said.
Mueller didn’t say who’s pushing for the change. Neither would his spokeswoman. She released a statement saying, “We are aware that a couple of political candidates are also pushing this misleading and dangerous policy change.”
