Volunteers patrol Indianapolis streets to curb youth crime

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — They wear bright yellow vests labeled “Indianapolis TenPoint Coalition,” and they’re on the streets, day and night, across the city as crime and violence interrupters.

Rev. Charles Harrison is the board president of the Indianapolis TenPoint Coalition.

“We have about 11 areas that we patrol from the west side to the far east side, and those are the areas that have had substantial youth violence over the years,” Harrison said.

Harrison and dozens of other volunteers hit the streets about five hours a night, six days a week as a show of force in crime and violence hotspots. They’re looking to intercept young men between the ages of 12 – 24. The volunteers know these streets and the pitfalls they bring because they’ve been there.

“It’s the power of presence and the conversation,” Harrison said. “We make it a point to get to know these young people and build relationships with them because if you don’t, you’re not going to have a real impact on them. So, we’ve become big brother figures, uncle figures, father figures, grandfather figures to these young people out here.”

He added, “a lot of the guys that you see in the pictures, you know at one time were these young people. they used to be a part of the problem, many of them have gone to prison, some have served long prison terms. we have one young man who just started with us less than a year ago, he spent 40 years in prison, and he used to be one of those young people.”

The advice, the lessons learned, the “You don’t want to end up in prison” talk is real and raw, and Harrison said it’s eye-opening in a way that he hasn’t seen before.

“26 years ago, when I first started doing TenPoint, there’s a couple of things,” Harrison said. “We didn’t see as many young people with guns back then. If I ran into a group of six or seven young people, maybe one of them had a gun. Today, just about all of them have guns, and they’re getting younger and younger.”

Some of the hottest spots are 29th and Martin Luther King Drive, 29th and Capital, and 42nd and Post Road, areas where crime and violence numbers have been historically high.

“You know we can’t stop it all, but I think with the collaboration of what we do, in conjunction with the IMPD (Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department) and other community stakeholders, I think together, we have been effective at reducing the frequency of it,” Harrison said.

Harrison said the Indianapolis TenPoint Coalition is making a difference.

“I think if it wasn’t for groups like TenPoint, and other groups, the level of youth violence we would be seeing in Indianapolis would be much, much higher,” Harrison said.

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