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Public Safety

Crime and public safety

Crime registers as a serious (if not always top-urgency) national issue in 2026 surveys, with partisan divides on who handles crime policy better. Indiana communities track violent crime trends, policing resources, and state-federal public-safety approaches during the midterm cycle.

What should Indiana prioritize on crime and public safety?

How important is this to you?

Sources

Harvard Institute of Politics — https://iop.harvard.edu/youth-poll/52nd-edition-spring-2026
Other challenges — including health care (38%), climate change (35%), fentanyl (31%), and crime (25%) — are more likely to be seen as serious issues, but not emergencies
Pew Research Center — https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2026/07/23/as-the-2026-midterms-approach-economy-is-front-and-center
Crime policy | 29 | 43 | 25 | R+14
Positions on this issue  ·  liberal → conservative
  1. Shift funding toward social services, prevention, and alternatives to incarceration
  2. Combine community programs with accountable policing and modest reforms
  3. Maintain current policing levels while targeting violent crime hotspots
  4. Increase police funding, longer sentences, and fewer pretrial releases
  5. Adopt zero-tolerance enforcement and significantly expand incarceration