IMPD Launches Local-Federal Partnership To Investigate Violent Crime

The program will focus on two things: finding and arresting individuals who are disproportionately responsible for violent crime, and the collection and quick analysis of gun-related evidence. (Drew Daudelin/WFYI)

Local and federal law enforcement agencies Monday launched the Crime Gun Intelligence Center, or CGIC, a long-planned collaboration to investigate violent crime in Marion County.

The program will focus primarily on the collection and analysis of gun-related evidence, and working to find and arrest individuals who are disproportionately responsible for violent crime.

U.S. Attorney Josh Minkler says its crucial to target repeat offenders.

The reason for this is very simple," Minkler says. "If you are a trigger puller, what law enforcement knows is you keep pulling the trigger until one of two things happen: youre shot dead or you're a victim of an assault, or you end up in prison.

The program adds resources and staff to focus on NIBIN, a forensics tool that uses gun-related evidence to quickly identify potential suspects. IMPD officials say getting results from NIBIN used to take months, and will now take a matter of days.

The number of leads investigators have found through NIBIN has jumped significantly in recent years, according to IMPD, from 83 in 2017 to 435 in 2018.

"This is a proven model," Minkler says. "It is an evidence-based model that has worked in other cities. It's worked in Denver, and it's worked in Houston."

Partners involved in CGIC include the Marion County Prosecutors Office, the Indiana Department of Corrections and Indiana University, which is helping with research.

The announcement comes after an especially violent weekend in Indianapolis three separate shootings left several people dead and more wounded. Criminal homicides in the city have steadily increased in the last few years, while overall crime is down.