Charles Harrison Of Indianapolis Ten Point Coalition On Indy's Gun Violence Epidemic

The Monthly, Weekly

The Rev. Dr. Charles Harrison of Barnes United Methodist Church is one of the founders of Indianapolis Ten Point Coalition, which dates back to the late 1990s as a community group that patrols the streets of high-crime neighborhoods in an attempt to defuse and de-escalate violent crime. As those crime rates creep back toward levels not seen since the group's founding, and Black community organizations are simultaneously rethinking their ties to police, we spoke with Harrison about how and why Indy Ten Point does the work that it does, and how he works to maintain credibility both with the police who apprehend violent criminals and the people who suffer from violence at both the hands of those criminals and, occasionally, the police themselves.