Fishers Police Chief Ed Gebhart spoke with News 8 on Dec. 16. (WISH-TV photo)
By MELEA VanOSTRAND
WISH-TV | wishtv.com
Law enforcement leaders this week across central Indiana are highlighting what they call progress in the fight against gun violence.
News 8 first reported on the highlights on Monday. According to Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, the task force took more than 1,900 guns off the streets in 2025. They say detectives confiscated more than 204 pounds of illegal drugs including more than 13 pounds of fentanyl. IMPD also says officers made nearly 2,800 arrests and recovered 128 stolen vehicles.
The task force brings together officers from multiple departments with one goal: targeting violent offenders before crimes happen. This year, leaders say collaboration made a huge difference. The Indiana Crime Guns Task Force, which includes IMPD, Fishers Police Department and the Indiana State Police, was formed in 2021. It works to identify violent offenders and take illegal firearms out of circulation. One of the big goals of the task force is quality over quantity.
IMPD Lt. Jered Hidlebaugh said, “We are not talking about grandma carrying a firearm, we are talking about individuals who are out here committing violence against the citizens of central Indiana. Our second goal was to pull as many machine gun conversion-devices off the streets of central Indiana as we could.”
In 2025, the task force seized 346 illegal firearms, including 186 machine-gun conversion devices. Officers also confiscated more than 120 pounds of narcotics, plus $208,000 tied to criminal activity. They made 312 arrests and filed multiple state and federal warrants.
Fishers Police Chief Ed Gebhart says the task force’s success comes from agencies working side by side. “I think if we hadn’t been in this since 2020, that Fishers would’ve experienced more gun crimes, more shootings, and as a department collectively, our officers are all in and engaged in this pursuit of illegal firearms. It remains one of our top priorities.”
Capt. Ron Galaviz, chief information officer for Indiana State Police, “The information and the intelligence that’s gathered and that’s shared interagency, not only benefits them here locally and in central indiana, but also touches all four corners of the state.”
Hidlebaugh says the goal for next year is to continue focusing on getting more guns off the streets to bring crime numbers down. “It’s not acceptable, we’re not going to allow it to happen, and we’re going to continue to come after those people until we get that firearm from them and get them into custody, because we’re not in the business of letting that happen.”
This story was originally published by WISH-TV at wishtv.com/news/crime-watch-8/central-indiana-task-force-touts-strides-in-gun-violence-reduction.
