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IMPD releases use of force data, shows officers have drawn guns more than 1,000 times this year

IMPD Lt. Shane Foley said of the 10 officer involved shootings in 2023, all of them had to do with serious crimes.

INDIANAPOLIS — In the last nine months, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department said its officers have drawn their firearms about 1,100 times without firing.

As for how many times an officer was involved in a shooting, the department shows 10 times.

More than half of the people shot have died.

It has happened at various crime scenes, all with similar outcomes — an IMPD officer, drawing their weapon and then open firing on a suspect.

“When an officer encounters an individual who might be armed, they do a stop on a vehicle that is high-risk where an individual may be wanted for a violent felony. Our officers preemptively draw their firearms and point them at the person or vehicle with the anticipation they may have to use them,” IMPD Lt. Shane Foley said.

Credit: IMPD
IMPD's year-to-date use of force statistics

So far this year, officers have been called out to nearly 600,000 incidents spanning a wide variety of situations. Within those incidents, police have used force 910 times.

On 124 of those occasions, officers used less-lethal tactics to apprehend a suspect.

“The range of force that we document is everything from unresisting handcuffing all the way up to deadly force. So, that includes physical tactics, that includes Taser, baton, pepper ball launchers, less-lethal bean bag launcher and other tools that we have at our disposal,” Foley said.

RELATED: IMPD officers involved in shooting during reported break-in identified; K-9 officer released from hospital after stabbing

Of the 10 times officers have been involved in a shooting this year, Foley said those instances had to do with serious crimes.

“What I can tell you is out of all those situations, our officers faced individuals that were armed, they faced individuals that were either committing a crime or not following instructions. What it tells me is our officers are facing some challenges on a regular basis,” Foley said.

The circumstances surrounding those police shootings are currently under investigation.

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