There were a total of 358 violent. The wave of deadly violence occurred during a tumultuous year in US history. The COVID-19 pandemic caused schools to close and left millions of Americans out of work. Minneapolis police officer's murder of George Floyd sparked confidence in U.S.
law enforcement and sparked protests across the country. Firearm sales skyrocketed, leading to the proliferation of tens of millions of new weapons. Here's a look at states where gun sales are increasing. Some experts speculate that each of these factors likely played a role in increasing the homicide rate.
While it may take years before the precise causal factors are identified, the effects are being felt in communities across the country. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cites homicide as a contributing factor to the historic 1.5-year decline in life expectancy in the United States last year, surpassing only COVID-19 and accidental deaths, such as drug overdoses, in importance. In addition, NeighborhoodScout found that much of the crimes that take place in Indianapolis are property crimes. Compared to homicide rates in seven other cities as of May 19, Indianapolis was firmly in the middle of the herd.
With a crime rate of 45 per thousand residents, Indianapolis has one of the highest crime rates in the United States compared to all communities of all sizes, from the smallest towns to the largest cities. Significantly, based on the number of murders reported by the FBI and the number of residents living in the city, NeighborhoodScout's analysis shows that Indianapolis experiences one of the highest homicide rates in the nation compared to cities and towns of all population sizes, from the largest to the largest smallest. This is important because the overall crime rate can be further illuminated by understanding whether violent crime or property crime (or both) are the main contributors to the overall crime rate in Indianapolis. INDIANAPOLIS With 10.6 homicides per 100,000 residents, Indianapolis's intentional murder rate is higher than Chicago and several other large U.
regional. The City Council has allocated tens of millions of dollars to community violence reduction groups in the form of grants, and Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett has pointed to a reallocation of federal COVID funding to public safety efforts over a three-year period as positive steps. Hogsett has said that the IMPD is expanding its community and outpacing police strategy, has gained support from the House of Representatives to bring its Criminal Weapons Intelligence Center model to track violent criminals and investigate gun crimes to surrounding communities in central Indiana and the size of the police force is slowly increasing. despite rising retirement and separation rates and calls by community activists to defund the department.
Now let's see how Indianapolis does for violent crimes specifically, and then how it does for property crimes. As a child in the mid-1990s, Antonio Patton rode his bike from around the Children's Museum on 30th Street to the east end of Indianapolis. So, whether Indianapolis's crime rate is high or low compared to all places in the United States, when we monitor the size of the population and compare it to places that are similar in size, it is close to half the group in terms of crime rate; it's not much more or less dangerous, and that is what we would expect from statistics. One night in July, five people were killed and seven others injured in shootings on the northeast, east, south and west sides of Indianapolis.
While Indianapolis has shown a steady downward trend in reported serious crimes, the number of homicides and non-fatal shootings has increased for more than two years. .