Hoosier Task Force Targets Illegal Guns
INDIANAPOLIS — Law enforcement agencies across Central Indiana are working together to get illegally possessed firearms off the streets through the Indiana Crime Guns Task Force.
The task force brings together investigators from multiple agencies, including the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, Indiana State Police, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and departments in Marion, Hamilton, Boone, and Hendricks counties.
IMPD Lt. Jered Hidlebaugh said the group has focused on removing firearms from people who are not legally allowed to have them.
“Over the last six months, quarter one and quarter two of 2026, we really focused on removing illegally possessed firearms from the streets of Indianapolis and surrounding counties,” Hidlebaugh said.
Hidlebaugh said the task force is targeting every county surrounding Marion County, using local, state, and federal partnerships to investigate cases.
“We’ve had good success in doing that using our federal partners as well as our state partners,” he said. “We’ve seen a lot of strides moving forward, getting some of these handguns and rifles out of the hands of individuals who should not be having them, who are committing violence against the citizens of Central Indiana.”
The effort also extends beyond Indianapolis.
Fishers Police Chief Ed Gebhart said collaboration between agencies is critical because criminals do not operate based on city or county lines.
“First and foremost, the thing is to communicate,” Gebhart said.
Fishers has an intelligence analyst assigned to the task force to share information about people of interest who may travel between communities.
“We have Intel analysts placed within the Crime Guns Task Force, which communicates people of interest that may come into the city of Fishers and also people of interest that may travel from Fishers down to Indianapolis,” Gebhart said.
Fishers also assigned a detective to work alongside investigators in Indianapolis and added a digital forensics specialist to help analyze evidence.
“Criminals don’t know borders. Why should we have borders to enforcing them?” Gebhart said.
