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Public safety is a large, if not the largest, expenditure of any and every government at state, local and national levels. But in the past 20 years, the cost of maintaining safety, including law enforcement, emergency medical and fire protection, and other safety-related expenditures, has increased by about 300%. This increase has happened despite 20 years of declining crime rates. Interestingly, in Indiana per capita police numbers have been lower than the national average. Yet, crime numbers are down. Regarding public safety and crime numbers, the big question involves the relationship between the two, especially in Indiana.

The newest laws in Indiana support the increases in public safety spending. Counties can pass local income tax laws to fund deficits in public safety spending. To understand the full impact of this law, it is important to know what public safety spending entails. In Indiana, public safety money can be spent on economic development, community policing, and other new law enforcement techniques. The money does not just go to traditional police departments.

An issue with public safety and spending is the way that it has not influenced crime rates. For example, studies have found that police unions and police pay does not affect crime rates. The same goes for consolidating police departments. Mass incarceration, which has become a popular choice for public safety, has also not affected crime rates. Private prisons also do not affect crime rates, either. What does appear to affect crime rates is local, community-level policing.

Segregated and impoverished communities need BID

Communities with the highest crime rates are segregated neighborhoods that also suffer from poverty. The best cure for these areas is not increased policing or mandatory sentencing, but when communities decide to invest in business improvement districts (BID). Investing in poor communities happens when local property owners choose to pay for the policing and development on their own.

With the role of BIDs, public safety spending alone does not solely reduce the crime rate in impoverished and segregated neighborhoods. Crime rates also decrease when money is spent locally rather than at a centralized level. In a nutshell, crime rates drop when public safety is local, decentralized, and civilianized - it all depends on the relationships built between citizens in the neighborhoods and the public safety workers who help their neighborhoods flourish. These are the best ways to increase safety in segregated, impoverish neighborhoods.