Hear from IMPD Chief of Police Chirs Bailey and FBI special agent Mike Ericks
IMPD announces arrests of 116 individuals as part of Operation Guardian, a multi-day effort aimed at capturing wanted violent offenders in Marion County.
More than 100 people wanted for violent crimes were arrested in a sweeping multi-agency initiative dubbed Operation Guardian, described by Indianapolis’ police chief as the city’s largest-ever fugitive apprehension effort.
The days-long crackdown involved local and state agencies including the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, Marion County Sheriff’s Office and Indiana State Police. At least five federal agencies – Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Marshals Service, ATF, DEA and the FBI – were also on board.
“These were not driving while suspended warrants, these were not public intoxication warrants. These warrants were served on people who had warrants for felonies,” IMPD Chief Chris Bailey said at a Sept. 25 news conference.
The operation netted 116 arrests, including six arrests for murder. Narcotics, cash and more than two dozen firearms were among the evidence seized throughout the sweep, according to police. Bailey estimated that as many as 20 new cases have been filed with the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office tied to the arrests.
Some of the people arrested were already on probation, parole or home detention. When they next appear in court, deputy prosecutor Daniel Cicchini said, “the bond should be zero.”
The dragnet was possible at least in part thanks to extra manpower provided by the partner agencies, Bailey said. “We can’t do this alone. Everyone knows our staffing situation…there’s 30,000 plus warrants in our county. There’s plenty of work for everybody to do,” he said.
The total number of people targeted in the operation was not available at the time of publication.
“An important part of our gun violence reduction strategy is targeted enforcement like this,” Mayor Joe Hogsett wrote in a post on X.
Ryan Murphy is the communities reporter for IndyStar. She can be reached at rhmurphy@indystar.com.