INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The president of the Indianapolis Fraternal Order of Police has proposed Republican Gov. Mike Braun essentially sidestep Democratic Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears to address violent crime.
FOP leader Rick Snyder said police should not be blamed for violent crime in the city and downtown. He points the finger at Mears. “We don’t need as much discussion about a special policing district, but perhaps we need more discussion about a special prosecuting district that would allow the state to intervene and to have robust prosecutions, at least in a set area as it relates to our capital city.”
Snyder is piggybacking off Braun, who on Wednesday criticized Mears, saying “Broadly I think the prosecutor is not taken up cases that the police bring to them.”
In a statement, a spokesman for the prosecutor’s office said they continue to prosecute violent crime.
“Last year we secured a 94% conviction rate for Murder trials, 84% for sex crimes, 83% for Attempted Murders, 87.5% for gun cases and 75% for drug cases. This success is largely due to the daily collaboration between our office, law enforcement partners and members of our community.”
Marion County Prosecutor’s Office Spokesman Michael Leffler
Snyder said, “Ryan Mears’ Billy bad*** posture that he does after the fact is wearing thin with our cops and with or victims.”
The FOP leader continued to criticize Mears over what he called “sweetheart plea deals” that allows criminals to avoid prison time. Snyder claimed those criminals then goes out to commit violent crimes. “The vast majority of the time, one or both of those persons, had they been held accountable for a prior bad act, could not and would not have been there for that latest act of violence to occur.”
I-Team 8 asked the Indiana Supreme Court for data showing how many people who’ve taken plea deals to avoid prison time have then gone on to commit violent crimes. The court said it does not track that specific data anywhere in Indiana.
Snyder said that lack of court accountability is the problem. “Form a commission on criminal justice outcomes. Do the analysis on every homicide death that we have.”
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