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Today’s Popcorn Moment: Carmel Mayor Sue Finkam talks about Indy crime spreading into the donut counties · Tony Katz | Popcorn Moment

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  Speaker 1: The popcorn moment, Let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go.
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: It's the story you need to hear to believe. Then
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: grab your popcorn because there is more. Of course, we
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: have been discussing the death of Brett Scargo, a twenty
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  Speaker 2: three year old I You Kelly's School of Business graduate
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  Speaker 2: who was killed in a parking garage in downtown Indianapolis
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  Speaker 2: as he was on his way to meet his family
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  Speaker 2: for an Indians game. Maybe this is where Indianapolis has
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  Speaker 2: enough is enough. But we've seen a lot of senseless killing,
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  Speaker 2: and we have seen no plan, and we have seen
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  Speaker 2: from criminals no prosecutions. We have seen criminality become commonplace
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  Speaker 2: in Indianapolis to a point of unacceptable to Hoosiers. And
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  Speaker 2: we have seen in a prosecutor not move. Just days
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  Speaker 2: before this, it was the mayor of Carmel's Sue Finkhlm,
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  Speaker 2: discussing enough is enough, and you can see that story
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  Speaker 2: over at WIBC dot com through a conversation she had
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  Speaker 2: with Angela gannotte at our sister, our news gathering partners,
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  Speaker 2: I should say at Fox fifty nine about a crime
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  Speaker 2: that took place and where the suspect.
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  Speaker 1: In the crime.
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  Speaker 2: This is what happens when you don't prosecute and how
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  Speaker 2: crimes in Indianapolis are making their way to Hamilton County
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  Speaker 2: and the Donut counties. The prosecutor, Ryan Mehir is pushing
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  Speaker 2: back and calls it completely disingenuous. The mayor of Carmel,
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  Speaker 2: Sue Finkham, joins us right now, a mayor, thanks for
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  Speaker 2: being here. Let's start with your opening salvo, the conversation
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  Speaker 2: you had with Angela gannote, enough is enough?
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  Speaker 1: What is it that you have had enough of?
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  Speaker 3: Well, but as a mom and a mayor, I find
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  Speaker 3: it completely unacceptable that dangerous repeat a friend on the streets.
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  Speaker 3: This offender had been arrested by the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police
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  Speaker 3: and other agencies thirty four times since twenty two, twenty
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  Speaker 3: eight in Marion County. I don't understand why he wasn't
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  Speaker 3: in jail.
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  Speaker 2: The answer to that question is that no one put
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  Speaker 2: him in jail. There was no prosecution to put him
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  Speaker 2: in jail. If that's not the answer, is there. Do
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  Speaker 2: you believe that the issue stems outside of the prosecutor's
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  Speaker 2: office or are you saying this is because Marion County
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  Speaker 2: and it's political refuses to engage in prosecutions of people
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  Speaker 2: who are known to be criminals.
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  Speaker 3: Well, I know this is more than just one case.
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  Speaker 3: This is about a very, very broken system. I was
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  Speaker 3: talking to one of our police officers yesterday and he
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  Speaker 3: made the comment that when they arrest repeat offenders, they
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  Speaker 3: often asked what county am I in? And when they
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  Speaker 3: hear Hamilton County, they hang their heads because they know
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  Speaker 3: that they have a rougher road to go down than
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  Speaker 3: if it was anywhere else. So I don't know if
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  Speaker 3: it's the prosecutor's office. I don't know if it's the judges.
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  Speaker 3: I don't know if it's the jails full I've said
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  Speaker 3: time and time again we need to come together as
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  Speaker 3: a group and figure this out. But this is unacceptable.
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  Speaker 3: You know, I'm in charge of taking care of families
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  Speaker 3: here and when I hear the story of violent carjacking
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  Speaker 3: with the dad and his twenty four year old, I
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  Speaker 3: have a twenty four year old, so and that could
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  Speaker 3: have been me just as much as anybody else there.
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  Speaker 3: And we don't want to change what makes Karmel great.
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  Speaker 3: And the number one thing and the number one reason
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  Speaker 3: people move here is because it's a safe community and
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  Speaker 3: we are going to keep it that way. I raised
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  Speaker 3: them on social media.
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  Speaker 2: Let me just take a moment here talking to the
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  Speaker 2: mayor of Carmel. So you think him, I want to
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  Speaker 2: go back to something.
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  Speaker 1: You don't know. If it's the judges, you don't know,
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  Speaker 1: if it's the prosecutor, what do you know? What do
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  Speaker 1: you think it is?
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  Speaker 3: Well, all I can say is this is this particular case.
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  Speaker 3: When I look back at the history, many of the
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  Speaker 3: cases were dismissed before they even got to a judge.
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  Speaker 3: And that tells me. Again, I'm not a public safety expert,
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  Speaker 3: but what that tells me is either cases weren't organized
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  Speaker 3: or we didn't have enough staffing to handle this. And
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  Speaker 3: I don't know the answer here, but what I do
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  Speaker 3: know is that someone in Indianapolis and Marion Connie needs
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  Speaker 3: to step up, raise their hand and say, you know what,
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  Speaker 3: this case is egregious. This case is symbolic of a
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  Speaker 3: problem we have down here. I'm going to stand up
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  Speaker 3: and be a leader and try to come up with
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  Speaker 3: a solution. I'm not hearing anybody do that, and that's
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  Speaker 3: my biggest concern. This isn't a new thing Tony. This
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  Speaker 3: is one case just didn't happen to pop out of
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  Speaker 3: the ether. This isn't having over and over again. And
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  Speaker 3: that's why I think my post got tractions. People are
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  Speaker 3: set up. I was just voicing what I'm hearing for years.
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  Speaker 2: So this was an alleged car jacking, and you pointed
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  Speaker 2: out that this guy has four pending felony theft cases
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  Speaker 2: in Marion County and you're asking how is it possible
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  Speaker 2: that he wasn't in jail, and it's Ryan Mehers, the prosecutor, said,
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  Speaker 2: as long as we're having an honest conversation about all
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  Speaker 2: the different jurisdictions this individual had connections with, I think
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  Speaker 2: that could be potentially a productive conversation. But for the
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  Speaker 2: meyertising out, Marion County is completely disingenuous. The differences between
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  Speaker 2: Hamilton County and Marion County. It's not a difference of
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  Speaker 2: political theory. It's a difference of something else.
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  Speaker 3: It's thought about politics me it's about outcomes. Famous deserve
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  Speaker 3: to feel safe. Residents deserve confidence that dangerous or PEA
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  Speaker 3: defenders are being dealt with appropriately. This is one hundred
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  Speaker 3: percent preventable. Marie County residents all do any kind of
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  Speaker 3: residents are looking at this and saying, how do we
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  Speaker 3: get here? It's a system problem.
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  Speaker 2: Talking to the mayor of Carmel, so you Finkham, I
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  Speaker 2: would push back on you, mayor and say that they
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  Speaker 2: don't deserve to feel safe, they deserve to be safe.
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  Speaker 1: I think there's a difference in those words.
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  Speaker 2: The reason I ask about the politics is that I
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  Speaker 2: am very clear that it is about the politics. It
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  Speaker 2: is about a willingness. But you're voicing something that certainly,
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  Speaker 2: I think, and we've seen it a little bit here
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  Speaker 2: and there, could be voiced by other mayors all in
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  Speaker 2: the Donor counties. I believe the mayor of Noblesville, Chris Jensen,
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  Speaker 2: has echoed. I don't want to speak for him. If
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  Speaker 2: I remember it right in the social media post echoing
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  Speaker 2: some of your sentiments. Have you heard from other mayors
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  Speaker 2: on this subject and will we be hearing from them?
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  Speaker 3: I've not heard from other mayors, but I can tell
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  Speaker 3: you I'm going to try to get all of them
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  Speaker 3: together and have a conversation about this crime doesn't stop
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  Speaker 3: at county lines, and neither short accountability. We should all
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  Speaker 3: have a conversation about what we can do because I
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  Speaker 3: will also tell you all of us love the city
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  Speaker 3: of Indianapolis and are just so disappointed and disheartened what
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  Speaker 3: we're seeing with increase in crime. And the story about
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  Speaker 3: Brett Scrogham should rock everybody because it was a daytime
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  Speaker 3: crime and it's just I feel so heartbroken for his family.
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  Speaker 3: Know one should experience something that's traumatic.
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  Speaker 2: Have you had a conversation with Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogg
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  Speaker 2: said on the subject, I have not yet. Have you
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  Speaker 2: reached out to him to have a conversation.
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  Speaker 3: Hoping he reached out to me, but he hasn't thought
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  Speaker 3: me reaching out with him to him today, I you know, it's.
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  Speaker 2: It seems more and more unsurprising to Hoosiers that the
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  Speaker 2: mayor has not reached out.
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  Speaker 1: He put out a statement about this. Of course it
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  Speaker 1: did not seem inspiring.
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  Speaker 2: What about the prosecutor, Ryan Meers, referring to your singling
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  Speaker 2: out of Marion County as completely disingenuous.
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  Speaker 1: How do you respond to that?
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  Speaker 3: Well, my understanding, the word disingenuous means I'm not sincere,
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  Speaker 3: and I am sincere about my concerns that twenty eight
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  Speaker 3: times Indiapolis Metropolitan Police Department officers did their jobs and
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  Speaker 3: arrested this gentleman and put him into the system, and
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  Speaker 3: twenty eight times he was able to leave. And if
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  Speaker 3: you look at the history, he's able to leave and
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  Speaker 3: within dazed almost always do another crime. And so I
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  Speaker 3: can assure you I'm sincerely positive that Ryan Meh should
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  Speaker 3: be the one reason in hand and saying, yeah, let's
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  Speaker 3: look at this together. But he wanted to defer to
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  Speaker 3: I was very careful not to make this personal. I
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  Speaker 3: was very careful not to make this political. I was
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  Speaker 3: raising the concern that this is a system problem, and
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  Speaker 3: mister Mirors wanted to turn it on somehow it's my fault.
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  Speaker 3: So ridiculous and just a lack of accountability across the board.
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  Speaker 2: Can I push back a little bit on that is
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  Speaker 2: it a system problem or is it the problem of
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  Speaker 2: the people who are running the system? Is the system
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  Speaker 2: in Marion County really that much different than the system
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  Speaker 2: in Hamilton County?
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  Speaker 3: The system is not working in Marion County, So I
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  Speaker 3: call it a system problem. You know, I don't Again,
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  Speaker 3: I'm not sure where this is, where the breakdown is,
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  Speaker 3: or if it's repeatedly throughout the system altogether. But you know,
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  Speaker 3: every day as mere I'm challenged to do the best
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  Speaker 3: I can out the resources I have, the people I have,
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  Speaker 3: the budget I have. They have great outcomes That is
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  Speaker 3: no different from any department or any company anywhere. Business
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  Speaker 3: leaders all across the Indianapolis are saying, why do I
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  Speaker 3: have to spend thousands and thousands of dollars on private
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  Speaker 3: security or increase insurance premiums because crime is not being
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  Speaker 3: handled appropriately? And they two are wondering, why can't someone capital.
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: This As the days go forth, and you want to
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  Speaker 2: put together a meeting with other mayors, which certainly we
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  Speaker 2: want to hear about. Have you seen an increase Has
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  Speaker 2: Carmel seen an increase of people from Marion County wanting
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  Speaker 2: to move there because of the issues in Marion County?
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  Speaker 3: I can only see the anecdotally. I can't say that
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  Speaker 3: with any kind of data. So I know that people
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  Speaker 3: are concerned about the crime in Indianapolis, and again, Carmel
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  Speaker 3: isn't perfect. Carmel has its own form of crime. But
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  Speaker 3: I'm concerned about the repeat offenders because they can't imagine
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  Speaker 3: what the crime trends would been down if we got
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  Speaker 3: repeat offenders off the streets.
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  Speaker 2: Mayor Sue thankolam, the mayor of Carmel, Indiana. I appreciate
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  Speaker 2: you taking the time. We're going to follow this story
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  Speaker 2: and we may have you back as we invite the process.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you to Ryan Meres onto the show to respond
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  Speaker 2: to the mayor and explain what it is within the
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  Speaker 2: system at Marion County that isn't working, or he can
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: defend that it's working just fine. We have five microphones
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  Speaker 2: and no waiting for the Indianapolis Marion County I should say,
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  Speaker 2: Prosecutor Ryan Meers, Mayor Finkhlm, thank you for taking the time.