Faith in Indiana

Faith leaders and a bipartisan group of lawmakers gathered Monday at the Statehouse to rally support for a measure to repeal Indiana’s death penalty.

Faith leaders in Indianapolis have asked the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the city’s police department. The request follows a year that included both the in-custody death of Herman Whitfield III, and an incident in which Indianapolis Metropolitan Police officers shot at a man parked in his grandmother’s driveway.

Advocates said Herman Whitfield III’s death was preventable. His family, community members and experts agree that changes are needed to stop more lives from being lost.

The group is among many asking lawmakers to invest in community mental health services and the existing 988 crisis response hotline.

Hundreds of Hoosiers rallied at the New Direction Church in Indianapolis Saturday to urge lawmakers to fully fund Senate Bill 1, which would bolster mental health care access and services across the state.

Community members are calling for statewide mental health crisis care ahead of the upcoming legislative session.

Black Indianapolis are learning about politics and empowerment as part of new fellowship opportunity.

WFYI spoke with Josh Riddick, an organizer with Faith in Indiana’s Black Church Coalition initiative, about what community leaders say should happen next after a man who was having a mental health crisis was tased by an IMPD officer and died.

Many in the community are calling for action after the death of a man who had a mental health crisis.

Last year, the group called for county and city officials to fund mobile response teams and an intake center for people in the midst of a mental health crisis.