Despite pervasive perception, South Bend still less violent than 2023, city officials say

SOUTH BEND — After a June everyone perceived as violent, South Bend officials were as surprised by the actual statistics as anyone else.

Mayor James Muller, along with South Bend Police Operations Division Chief Dan Skibins, the department's detective bureau's Lt. Kayla Miller and Chief of Police Scott Ruszkowski, spoke about the city's most serious crimes in their Quarter 2 Public Safety Update on July 18 as Ruszkowski differentiated that "feels like" and "fact" are two very different things.

At the July 17 Board of Public Safety meeting, Ruszkowski told the board that in June 2024 part 1 crimes, consisting of criminal homicide, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny theft and motor vehicle theft according to the FBI, were down from June 2023.

June 2023 had 412 part 1 crimes, whereas June 2024 had 390, according to the Police Transparency Hub. Part 1 crimes did increase this year from May to June. May 2024 had 370 part 1 crimes.

So while June felt awful, it still represents a continuing decline in violent crime in the city, officials said.

"It sure doesn't feel like it, but facts are facts," Ruszkowski said.

Board of Public Safety member Dr. Darryl Heller, who is also director of Indiana University-South Bend's Civil Rights Heritage Center, asked Ruszkowski what he attributes the decrease to.

Ruszkowski replied that more community support, a staff of 252 officers and dedicated detectives played a significant factor in the overall decrease.

He said he hears, "It feels like there's shootings all the time," but said that it's not correct, as he pointed out the "notable" decrease from quarter 2 in 2023 from 417 incidents to 335 incidents of quarter 2 of 2024 on July 18.

Although the facts say crime is decreasing, Ruszkowski said, he and the department are still very concerned with the perception and what people are saying.

He cautioned people from believing everything they hear or see on social media, saying at times, scanner pages rely on overheard information. A recent incident was communication through dispatch that did not pan out to be what it at first seemed to be, he said.

He said the statistics the police department provides, including on the Police Transparency Hub, is "vetted information."

"Those are vetted factual numbers that are put in there, not hyperbole or rhetoric," Ruszkowski said.

Shooting victims increase in Quarter 2 2024

The number of criminally assaulted shooting victims in quarter 2 of 2024 increased in comparison to those months last year from 33 to 35.

"Almost half of our shooting victims occurred in June," Ruszkowski said, saying he's not sure why. "We're obviously looking at every angle we possibly can to figure out why this is occurring."

Police showed that more than half, 57%, of shooting victims involved members of gangs or affiliated groups, a number that was also decreasing from 2020, but elevated in 2024.

Nationally, Ruszkowski said the trend is that there's an increase in crime in the summer months.

"We're not alone in this," he said.

South Bend was seeing a downward trend in shooting victims since 2020, but 2024 interrupted that trend, however Jan. 1 to June 30, 2024 has four fewer shooting fatalities compared to that time span in 2023, five fatalities compared to nine.

In the span of quarter 2 in 2024, South Bend Police confiscated 388 illicit guns, 42 more than quarter 2 of 2023, when 346 illicit guns were confiscated.

"That's 388 less instances where something bad or tragedy could happen," Ruszkowski said.

Email Tribune staff writer Camille Sarabia at csarabia@gannett.com.