Indiana Crime Guns Task Force confiscates more than 350 firearms in first year

The Indiana Crime Guns Task Force has confiscated more than 350 guns and arrested almost 400 people in its first year.

The task force is a collaboration between central Indiana and federal law enforcement agencies. It addresses violent crime by locating suspects and collecting evidence related to illegal possession of firearms.

“What we have seen is crime knows no boundaries. By forming this task force, law enforcement across Central Indiana has been able to work together, identify criminal behavior and stop the mobility of crime throughout our communities,” said Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department Assistant Chief Chris Bailey in a news release.

The effort began as the Crime Gun Intelligence Center, which was created by IMPD in 2019 as part of an initiative to curb crime in the city. The center became a regional collaboration two years later to provide a coordinated and uniform approach in processing, collecting, and analyzing gun evidence throughout central Indiana.

Since July 1, 2021, the taskforce seized 369 guns and arrested 397 individuals.

The central Indiana task force is one of 33 crime gun intelligence centers in operation across the country.

Contact WFYI criminal justice reporter Katrina Pross at kpross@wfyi.org. Follow on Twitter: @katrina_pross.

Pross is a Corps Member of Report for America, an initiative of The GroundTruth Project.