INDIANAPOLIS — A new squad of Indiana State Police troopers is using crime data and advanced training to try to make Indianapolis safer.
It's called the All Crimes Policing squad.
The ACP operates daily, using directed patrols, all based on data. In the past six weeks, state police say it's getting big-time results.
On Indianapolis interstates, seven state troopers are part of this squad of crime fighters, all hyper-focused on criminal activity.
Since forming Jan. 8, they've taken drugs, stolen guns and serious violent felons off the streets.
"Nearly every crime is connected to another crime. Nearly every criminal is connected to another criminal," said ISP Sgt. John Perrine. "This squad is able to really focus on going down those paths, connecting the dots and leading those crimes from one crime to another where one criminal interaction is leading to dozens of arrests."
ISP says the squad made 43 arrests just in its first three weeks.
And they're doing it with data: gathering information from traffic stops, drug operations and other agencies, then making proactive patrols where analytics show hotspots for crime.
"I am a numbers guy," said ISP Sgt. Nate Raney, who is part of the ACP squad, "and that's how I try to do my police work is we track everything that we do and where we're having successes and where we're coming across crimes."
The squad came across a big crime last week.
They say they recovered ammunition, guns, even a projectile launcher from a stolen car, driven by teenagers.
"That was part of our team and we had very good success with that," Raney said.
The ACP squad doesn't do it alone. They work with IMPD and the feds as partners.
They say that combination and the squad's data focus have led to several federal indictments, too.
"They're taking all that information, putting in one place and they're following it up," Perrine said. "They're following this information all the way through, leading to these arrests."