The bloody spate of homicides continues in Marion County.

Law enforcement agencies say 32 people have been killed in violence in Marion County in the first quarter of this year. They investigated 28 homicides in the first quarter of 2006, the year that ended with an eight-year high of 153 homicides.
This year's rate is four victims short of the 36 people killed in the first quarter of 1998, the year when a record 162 people were killed in homicides in the county.
"These numbers are sad," said Kenna Quinet, a criminal justice professor at the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. "This is happening in other cities across the U.S. in part because homicides had reached an all-time low; odds were that it would increase."
The homicides this year include a man killed in a police-action shooting and two people killed by gunshots fired in self-defense. Police have arrested nine people in connection with nine of the 2007 slayings.
Eighteen victims were shot; 20 were black; and 20 were younger than 35.
One of the most recent homicides happened in Lawrence where, police say, a man stabbed George Martin, 39, in the neck. Daryl Walker, 33, is in jail and faces a preliminary charge of murder.
The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department has 30 homicide detectives. There are more detectives in Beech Grove, Lawrence and Speedway, but they typically handle other cases in addition to the homicides.
Most of the homicides so far this year have occurred south of 56th Street, north of Raymond Street, west of German Church Road and east of Meridian Street. The Eastside had the most homicides so far, with 13 people killed.
"These homicides are occurring in clusters, in certain parts of the city," said Quinet, co-author of a textbook on homicides titled "The Will to Kill." "The average person is not at risk, unless they live in a violent domestic relationship. Unfortunately, if all of these homicides were occurring in Meridian Hills and Butler Tarkington, there would be much more community concern."
The reasons behind most of the killings are unknown, but of the cases where police have determined motives, seven stemmed from some kind of argument and three occurred during a robbery.
One victim, Larry Kinnaird, was killed by his wife, who also took her own life Jan. 19. Kinnaird, 58, is the only victim of a domestic homicide in the first three months of this year.

Troubled neighborhoods
Many believe that societal problems contribute to the violence, including bad parenting, violence in the home, poverty, drug abuse and a lack of investment in troubled neighborhoods.
"I think our community has lost the connection with each other," said Byron Alston, director of Save the Youth, a Northside ministry that offers basketball leagues, a drum line team and computer-skills programs as an alternative to violence. "It used to be everyone knew everyone. Now there's no communication. Everyone's scared of each other."
Alston is a former street gang leader who served time in prison for robbery and kidnapping. He now runs a community center at 1704 Trumbull St. and works tirelessly to keep youths away from the temptations of drugs and crime.
"We need to bring more programs to the city. We need more resources, and we need to heal our community," Alston said.
The availability of guns is taking a toll in the city, Alston said.
"We've made it too easy to get gun permits. You can buy them easy on the street."

Taking action
Sheriff Frank Anderson on Thursday announced a new program that will offer a $500 reward for tips that take illegal firearms off the street. Anderson donated $100,000 out of the jail's commissary fund to pay the rewards.
"Law enforcement can't do this by ourselves," Anderson said. "We've got to start looking out for each other."
Chief Michael Spears said officers are frustrated because they typically have no warning before a homicide takes place.
"Our police officers want to do everything to prevent that type of violence," Spears said. "At some point parents and others who are responsible for young people have to take some responsibility for the conduct of their children."
Quinet agreed, noting that society is too quick to blame police when violence increases.
"This is not a police problem. It is ridiculous that we expect the police to raise people's children and teach them how to cope with life's disappointments," Quinet said. "Given the level of police resources in this community, the police will have their hands full just responding to citizen calls for service."
For example, Quinet cited a killing in which police say a 14-year-old boy gunned down a man during a dispute over repairs to a van about 1 a.m. Wednesday.
"Why is a 14-year-old out at this time of night? Where are his parents?" Quinet asked. "We know that if you raise children in a violent home, they are more likely themselves to grow up to be violent."
Society, Quinet said, must teach parenting skills and teach children to resolve conflicts with words instead of violence. That way, she said, the community can "invest in public safety in a way that allows (police) the time and resources to be proactive."

Exploring options
Earlier this year, a panel of 48 civic leaders recommended more than 100 programs and ideas designed to stem the violence. The panel called on the courts to offer more drug treatment and job training for offenders, more monitoring of people recently released from prison and more effort by the schools to find alternatives to suspension and expulsion.
There's no exact price tag and nothing has been funded yet, but Mayor Bart Peterson is asking lawmakers this year to help the city pay for the crime-fighting programs.
"It's the community's time to step up now," Alston said. "We need more hope for young people and old people. People don't have no more hope."

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