Is 5% cut in violence possible in Indy's worst areas?

In the city's six toughest crime zones, the potential for being shot, killed, for overdosing on drugs or needing mental health services is two, three, four, even seven times more likely than elsewhere in the city.

So public safety officials say they want to use a combination of government services, private aid and other tools to put a dent in the various ills that plague the city's biggest trouble spots. And on Tuesday, they offered up their goals for 2015:

>Reducing violent crime by 5 percent.

>Increase property crime arrests by 2 percent.

>Identify the 100 individuals re-entering society after prison who are the most at risk of re-offending and offering them "wrap-around" services to help them avoid new trouble in their lives.

Goal setting for things such as reducing 911 calls and EMS response times is nothing new for public safety. But public safety director Troy Riggs — flanked by his chiefs of police, fire and homeland security, along with directors from areas such EMS and animal control and code enforcement — made their 2015 goals public in part to hold the city accountable for reaching them.

"Our goal is to enhance the quality of life for residents in these areas," Riggs said.

The six zones are home to less than 5 percent of the city's population (about 42,000 people) but an outsized share of its woes — 27 percent of its homicides, 30 percent of its nonfatal shootings. The intersections at the epicenters of the zones are: 16th and Tibbs, 29th and MLK, 34th and Illinois, 38th and Sherman, 42nd and Post, and New York and Sherman.

Identifying the zones and the key issues took two years, but a reversal of decades of trouble could take much longer. "We did not get here overnight," Riggs said. "It's going to take some time to make a vast improvement. But we're committed to it."

In some cases, the challenges are staggering.

Mental illness, often an overlooked factor in crime, affects 30 percent of the population in the Marion County jails and inmates require more than 700 psychotropic drugs each day for treatment, said Valerie Washington, the public safety department's chief financial officer. One goal is to establish "engagement centers" in the six areas to address mental illness and addiction.

Vacant housing, which can be used for drug or gang activity or as a place to dump bodies, accounts for 40 percent of the structures in some neighborhoods. Now, code enforcement officials are finishing a database list of the vacant houses in hopes of determining which are best suited for rehabilitation. Residents of occupied homes will start hearing from the Department of Code Enforcement, too, when the weather warms — with door hanger notices explaining code violations related to trees, trash and other property issues.

When it comes to property crimes, which too often go unreported, Riggs said the city actually wants to see reports and arrests increase by 2 percent.

Reducing violent crime grabs more attention. And the city announced last week that 115 more police will be hired in 2015.

But officials say that's only part of the answer. They hope a broad spectrum of efforts involving businesses, nonprofits, faith organizations and government agencies will make a difference. They want groups willing to provide more weekend and school break activities for young people. They also want organizations who might be able to help ex-offenders find housing, drug treatment and employment.

Another goal for the Department of Public Safety relates to ex-offenders. In 2014, 92 percent of the homicide suspects had a criminal past and 83 percent of the victims had a criminal past. The city wants to identify the 100 people most at risk of committing new crimes.

"Quite frankly, they are going to be the most violent people coming out," Riggs said. "If we started looking at those and we have some common denominators on their backgrounds ... and then we see someone who comes out of prison matching that background, then they have a greater need for services.

In addition to reducing crime, public safety officials want to reduce the perceptions and fear of crime by 20 percent in the six targeted areas. The objective will be measured through public surveys.

Riggs said improving perceptions, sometimes by showing neighbors data, is important to alleviate fears that are not justified. Where crime is actually reduced, Riggs said, it should lead to changes in perception that lead people to become more active in reporting problems and crime issues. That, in turn, could reduce police calls.

"If we all believe that positive things are happening in our community, and we are able to showcase that," said Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department Chief Rick Hite, "then the perception is we are moving away from what has been historically looked upon as a negative."

From problems real or perceived, Riggs said the city must see progress in areas where it's been a long time coming. In community meetings around the city, residents too often said they were afraid to go out at night. That, he said, should not be so. But it will require a communitywide solution.

"None of this stuff is easy," Riggs said. "This stuff is hard."

Robert King covers public safety and crime prevention. Call him at (317) 444-6089. Follow him on Twitter at @RbtKing.