When it comes to feeling secure at home, the Town of Zionsville is one of the safest places to live in Indiana.
In 2023, Zionsville was named the second-safest municipality in Indiana by Safewise, a national organization that looks at crime statistics.
Zionsville Police Department Chief Michael Spears said although no town is immune from violent crime — Zionsville police are continuing to investigate the murder of a woman who was discovered at a home on Old 106th Street April 8 — the overall safety of the town is above average.
According to the FBI, seasonal trends often exist for nonviolent crimes like car burglaries or property crimes, when rates can climb as the weather warms. But Spears said in Zionsville, that’s not necessarily the case.
“Fortunately, we don’t have a lot of those break-ins, and I think that’s attributed to the patrol efforts of our officers and their visibility as well as the cooperation of the community that understands the importance of securing their property,” Spears said. “I think probably what makes a vehicle more of a target than keeping the car unlocked is if items are left visible from outside the car.”
Spears said cars are more likely to be targeted if criminals can see what is inside.
“Thieves look for easy targets. If they look for something that is readily available, they can crack a window and take off with it very quickly,” Spears said. “So, I would encourage everybody to secure their items in a way that they are not visible from outside of the car.”
Spears also credited the diligence of officers for the town’s safety.
“It’s our police officers who are out there every day and they work hard to put the needs of others ahead of their own,” she said. “Their visibility is incredibly important, and we encourage our officers, and they do everything they can to be visible and patrol in areas where things potentially might happen, where people might be victimized.”
When it comes to the most common crimes the ZPD responds to, officials said it’s scams.
“The biggest crimes that we have are online frauds and people being victimized by scams where they call them. It’s like a phishing scheme,” ZPD Capt. Marius Klykken said. “They’ll call and (say someone purchased something online) and please verify your password and your log-in information. We do try to combat that with some proactive programs. We’ll do a fraud chat and community groups and have our investigators deliver presentations on how to not be victims of fraud. These criminals have a script, and they follow it and they cast a big net and catch some people up in fraud.”
Officials said if anyone suspects they’ve been contacted by scammers, they can always contact the ZPD right away.
Klykken also noted that part of the safety and success of Zionsville is because the police engage in community policing, especially in schools where school resource officers engage with students of all ages every day.
“The SROs that are out there, they are every day making positive relationships with the kids,” Klykken said. “They’re instructing in classes, they’re with them on the playground. They’re providing a sense of security at the schools, but at the same time, they are building relationships.”
Spears said one thing that makes Zionsville a safe community is that its 45 sworn police officers are as proud of and invested in the town as citizens are.
“We have a wonderful partnership, friendship, relationship with all of them,” Spears said. “To an extent that we are able, we meet with community groups and organizations to discuss trends and concerns and what’s important to them. We try to structure our patrols and our programs to meet those needs. When you have that sort of a partnership between the police and the community, it makes it so much stronger than just the police trying to do things on their own. Citizens are as much a part of the success and safety of Zionsville as the police officers are.”
Learn more about ZPD resources and services at zionsville-in.gov/176/Police.
