Thank you, everybody.

This is the thank you, sir.

Thank you, everybody.

This is the meeting of the public safety and criminal justice committee on October 2nd, 2025.

We're gonna start this evening's meeting by introductions of our counselor starting on my left.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair Josh Bain, District 21.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair, Michael Paul Hart, representing District 20.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Brian Mowery, District 25.

Ms.

Delaney.

Thanks, Mr.

Thanks, Mr.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Good evening, everyone.

My name is Keith Graves, District 9 on the Indian at the C side.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Frank Biscarry, Southeast Side District 19.

Thank you, everybody.

And Chairman Leroy Robinson is out of town, so I have the honor of chairing this evening's meeting.

My name is Dan Boots, uh, and I'm in District 3.

Uh so we're gonna start this evening in proposal 315, which reappoints Dwayne Ingram to the Board of Public Health and Safety.

Mr.

Ingram.

How are you this evening?

Going well, Mr.

Saf.

Great, thank you.

So tell us a little bit, uh, one of just curious your experience on the board and what are your uh maybe aspirations going forward on the board?

Thank you, Counselor.

Uh good evening, and thank you all for your service to our city of Indianapolis.

Uh I'm honored to serve on the Board of Public Health and Safety.

Um of the things that I'm proud of one is being um serving as the vice chairman, vice president of the board, um, as well as some of the things that we've done this past year, called a call to attention some contracts that we have been, the city of Indianapolis has been uh operating under that have been delinquent or out of date.

Uh we've called to question some decisions uh to kind of rush through items without the due diligence of different um staff members of the city of Indianapolis.

Uh and because of our efforts, uh we have done a great job thus far making sure that we really take our fiduciary responsibility to the city uh seriously, and uh we do a do we do our due diligence and vetting contracts and agreements and grants and such that come from the office of the Board of Public Health and Safety, the Office of Public Health and Safety, uh, and we make sure those dollars are used in the most efficient way possible.

Great.

Um any questions on Mr.

Ingram from the council.

Yes, Councillor Bain.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

Thank you, Mr.

Ingram, for your rulings to be reappointed.

Um I was going through your resume here, and I believe you've presented to the council before in a different capacity.

Um I don't see it on your resume, but do you also have another career like with the Rise Indy?

I believe it is that is correct.

Okay.

What's your role there?

Uh my role is vice president of community affairs.

Okay.

Maybe just a note for our own internal staff that it might be helpful to have the most updated resumes in front of us.

Any other questions?

Yes, Councillor Graves.

Thanks, Mr.

Chair.

Uh I just want to say that I've had an opportunity to work closely with uh Mr.

Ingram many times over the years, and uh I certainly appreciate him and his willingness to to be a part of uh the um public safety board and uh stretching yourself because as my colleague mentioned, you are involved in other things in our city.

Uh thank you for your your service.

Thank you, sir.

Mr.

Ingram, I had a question too.

Does your does the uh Board of Public Health and Safety oversee anything to do with the elevation grants that are given out by the office to recipients and the public, the various nonprofits and what have you?

It is my understanding that elevation grants are awarded through the Indianapolis Foundation.

Uh and I don't remember or recall this board having any oversight of those funds.

Now there are some grant funding uh that does come through uh come across our desk uh that was former ARPA funds uh to youth serving organizations uh in the city, but uh no elevation grants are to my recollection.

If you may not deal with the actual granting of those funds, do you ever have anything to do with monitoring?

You you mentioned a lot of efficiency of use of those funds.

You ever monitor or look at the reporting from the grantees on their use of the funds?

Actually, to that point, we have requested that Deputy Chief Kendall Adams present to our board uh next month, I believe, because a number of grants um public safety grants are under his portfolio.

So at that time we will receive updates and progress monitoring reports from Deputy Chief Adams.

But those again have nothing to do with the elevation grant program.

No, sir.

All right.

Are there any uh we got any comments from the public on the appointment and reappointment of Mr.

Ingram?

I've got a question, sure.

Councillor Hart.

Yeah, just to go back to the Rise India and grants and just putting those two things together.

Does this board give any grants to Ryzen D?

No, sir.

Okay.

No, sorry.

There isn't apps just just so we can make it abundantly clear.

There's absolutely no connection between RISE and D, the work that I do in my nine to five, my professional field, and the work that's done by the port by the Office of Public Health and Safety, or anything that's approved by the Board of Public Health and Safety, and which I'm a member of.

And if that situation does happen, I will recuse myself, but I do not see that as a possibility, and we have not seen that thus far.

Great.

Thank you.

Sir, all right.

Oh second, yes, thank you.

All in favor of the reappointment of uh Mr.

Ingram to the Board of Public Health and Safety say aye.

Aye.

Opposed.

Thank you, Mr.

Ingram, for your service.

Keep up the good work.

Thank you so much.

Appreciate your time in there.

All right.

Next, we have proposal 318 and reappoint Danette Smith to the domestic violence fatality review team.

Ms.

Smith.

Thank you.

I'll ask you the same question.

Uh give us a little bit of insight on your experience with the board and what uh maybe your forward-looking aspirations are for the board.

Thank you.

So I to echo, thank you, counselors, for all the work that you do here for the city and for the opportunity to be here tonight in front of you.

Um since sitting on the board, just first coming in as a survivor and a member.

Um we were meeting three times a year since becoming a chair.

Um we now meet monthly going over those um fatalities that we've had due to domestic violence here in our city, as well as um focusing more on things that we can change within the city.

So I know a lot of things were more so education.

We're really trying to see how can we um implement and sh um and strengthen the the strangulation charges and the things that um are presented to try our best to bring those recommendations to the judges to the community corrections as well as all those um beyond so the recommendations are changing with the voices that are in the room as well.

Great.

Any questions from the council?

Yes, Councilor Hart.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Um I'm interested in just knowing and forgive me, but my own pure ignorance, it could be uh if the domestic violence fatality review team brings information to the council in any way, and I just say that in the sense that I had members try to come to our council to educate us on topics of public safety, and if we're you know, we've got this review team.

I'm curious if there's ever been reports that come back to our committee.

If I've missed them, that's on me, but I'm I'm just curious to know that.

So I just got into the seat of chair in February, so I am unsure of if you should receive the reports or the notes, however, there are notes being taken every meeting.

Um we still have those notes, so we can easily send those to you before um and whenever you request them.

My pleasure.

Any other questions?

Yes, Councilor Delaney.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

First, I just want to thank you for your service um on this board.

Do you know who the staff liaison is, or does our staff know so that we could get some of that information?

Is it you Linda?

Yes, yes, you line up.

So that's where um so I I have reached out to her for more information in reference to what should I be sending to her as far as the request and and just the the general overview of how making sure that I do the administration side of the board so that way you have a clear understanding of what's being uh talked about in those meetings and and if there's anything that you all recommend that we be sure to do that as well.

Thank you.

No, thank you.

Any other questions?

I do have one.

Um, what are your if you know the statistics with respect to domestic violence?

What direction are they trending?

Uh so I can say in 2021, we were at 34 homicides in uh 2020.

No, I'm sorry, 2022, we were at 34 homicides in 2023.

We were at 14 homicides in 2024, we were at nine homicides, and right as of today, we're at six.

Even though one is too many, that's a positive trend.

Correct.

One is one is too many.

Yes.

Um, but if we can see that decrease and continue to see that decrease, then not only is the board but the community domestic violence organizations and and those who are impacted by domestic violence, whether it's family or survivors, we see that there is work that is being done in our community.

Anything you can point to to attribute that trend to um well, we know during COVID funding came in to where that gave more access to survivors here in our community um as well as um families um with that COVID.

We are seeing that um we had nine last year and we're at six now.

The the funding has decreased for the domestic violence agencies here in our city.

However, um, since becoming the director of the Indy Champions, bringing the program domestic violence programs together collectively, we're able to talk amongst each other and know that we can do this alone, and that there has to be a togetherness.

So meeting monthly to say this is working, this is not working, and then targeting those top 10 zip codes that face domestic violence the most in Marion County has been a go-to for not only the indie champions but all of the domestic violence agencies get those numbers from us.

Great, thank you.

Any members of the public here to speak with respect to Ms.

Smith.

Seeing none, do I have a motion?

So having moved and seconded, all those in favor of reappointing Danette Smith to the domestic violence fertility fatality review team, say aye.

Aye.

Opposed.

Thank you, Ms.

Smith, for your service.

Thank you so much.

Next is proposal number 319, which reappoints Wendy Tucker to the early intervention planning council.

Is Ms.

Tucker here?

Good evening.

Good evening.

I'll give you the same question too.

Is uh a little bit of the highlights on your experience with the board and what are your forward-looking aspirations for the board?

So I've been with the board about two or three years now.

And since I started with the board, our goal is for early intervention and planning committee to help reduce um reduce um.

I'm sorry, my loss of words.

My heart is beating a thousand pounds.

That's all right.

Um, so we won't bite.

Thank you.

So our goal is that our the children in Marion County are healthy, and we want to do what we can to prevent any maladaptive behaviors, and we work with um a network of uh community providers from all domains, and we take a look at where the children are and what we can do as a planning committee to strengthen those organizations.

Um so what I look forward to working, continuing working with the committee is to continue doing the work that we're doing, making our voice known, advocating for our children, seeing what we can do to support Marion County.

Wonderful.

Any questions from the committee here for uh Ms.

Tucker?

Oh, I'm sorry, Councilman Bain.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

Um, thank you, Ms.

Tucker, for your willingness to continue serving on the early intervention planning council.

Just out of curiosity, do you all um manage or oversee any grants that the city has?

So not epic, but McCoy does.

McCoy does.

Thank you.

Any further questions?

Yes, Councillor Hart.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

I'm just looking at the attendance, and you've got great attendance, but I just see three names on here.

Um maybe your name was just cropped out, but is there or are the other names where cropped out?

Is there only three members?

No, there's a I believe there's about 12 of us.

Okay, yeah, perfect.

Thank you for your great attendance.

Thank you.

Any other questions?

Any questions from the public regarding Ms.

Smith.

Seeing none, do I hear a motion?

So move.

Second.

Having a motion moved and seconded.

All those in favor of reappointing Wendy Tucker to the early intervention planning council say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Opposed.

Ms.

Tucker, thank you very much.

Have a good evening.

Thank you as well.

Next and last but not least, proposal number 320 amends chapter 283 of the revised code to modify the duties and responsibilities of the forensic services agency.

This evening we have the director here to present.

So please uh for the record introduce yourself and proceed.

Thank you.

Thank you, counselors.

My name is Richard Amberger, director of forensic services, and I appreciate you hearing our request tonight.

Um this is something we've been working on since spring, but with budgets and things that kind of got pushed to the side a little bit.

But uh the original ordinance for the forensic services agency was written in 1975, 50 years ago.

So a lot has changed since then.

And with that, we're specifically looking at section 283-342B.

And in a nutshell, that is the who when aware of what we do with for in the forensics world.

Problem is is the original ordinance, which is had never been touched since it was originally adopted.

There's really three things wrong with it, and we felt it needed to be addressed.

The first is there's something on their polygraph testing since the life of the Indianapolis Mary County Inforensive Services Agency, we have never done polygraph.

I can't speak to what IPD did prior to 1986.

Another issue we have is it doesn't cover testing that has been discontinued over the years since 1975.

And then the last thing, it doesn't cover what has been started since 1975.

The biggest one, DNA.

So what we've what we're requesting is a revision more of administrative cleanup of we've written it more in generic terms, but through a lens of quality assurance that we are hoping that it'll stand the test of time for another 50 years.

And uh it uses words like examine, analyze, collect, things like that.

So I'll answer any questions you might have.

I'm just taking a moment to to read all this.

Sure.

So just logistically, you only do tests that are requested of your agency from another agency.

Is that correct?

Correct.

Okay.

You don't have a standard thing that you do routinely unless you're requested to by another agency.

The only thing we might do that's not truly requested is NIP and program.

If a gun comes through the crime scene unit, yeah, it if it meets the crack the caliber criteria, it'll go through the Nyben program.

I'm sorry, which what program are you saying?

NIBAN National Integrated Ballistics Information Network.

Okay.

Sorry, that acronym was not on the tip of my tongue.

So okay.

Um any questions of the director?

Mr.

Chair.

Yes, Councilor Hart.

I'm just curious.

I'm you know, reading through it in the from a services perspective.

One thing I could imagine you guys might do, but feel free to correct me.

Um, is storage of evidence?

Do you store anything or not?

Long term, no, we don't.

That's up to the individual uh law enforcement community that do they store their own evidence long term.

Okay, perfect.

That would be my only concern about the language here, but as long as you guys aren't doing it long term, that answers that.

Any other questions?

I do have one, sir.

In I've asked this before, and uh just always like an update.

What's the status of our rape kiss rape kits testing in Marion County?

Um I can't speak for the the law enforcement community because they have their own individual backlogs.

Okay, but I know that we we've outsourced a lot of uh sexual assault kits.

Um I can't speak to at the moment what that turnaround time is to that right now for us individually.

I think the last time I checked, we may have had like 20 on our backlog.

Have you ever had the experience where there was a delay in testing that uh violated a defendant's speedy trial rights?

Not that I recall.

Okay.

Any additional questions?

Yes, Council Graves.

Some of those firms, uh thank you for thank you for your presentation.

Uh, but some of those firms that you outsource to, are they uh local?

Are they outside of uh Marion County, Indiana, or Indiana?

There the one we uh we utilize, and it's also the one IAPD utilizes, it's called Bodie.

I'm not sure what state there are, but they are outside of Indiana.

How did they uh get the opportunity to get your business?

It was uh it was there was an RFP that went out for anybody to bid on it.

Thank you.

All right, any other questions?

Seeing none any questions from the pup the public.

Candace, you don't have any questions.

Okay, all right.

Seeing none, do I hear a motion?

And then a second, all right.

So we've moved and seconded.

All those in favor of amending chapter 283 of the revised code to modify the duties and responsibilities of the forendic services agency, say aye.

Aye, aye.

Opposed?

So passed.

Thank you, sir.

You have a nice have a good evening.

You as well.

Having finished our agenda, we are adjourned.

Thank you.