INDIANAPOLIS — The United States Department of Justice announced its Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) is partnering with the National Policing Institute to conduct an outside review of the IMPD's officer-involved shooting from 2023.
The in-depth analysis will be done to find any patterns or factors that could identify the uptick in these incidents throughout last year.
IMPD says the goal of the partnership is to improve safety "for both our officers and our community." According to the DOJ, the request for the review came from new IMPD Chief Christopher Bailey and is in conjunction with the National Policing Institute.
“Taking an in-depth look at these areas is always a positive step and can result in real changes,” said Hugh T. Clements, Jr., director of the COPS Office. “We credit Chief Bailey and the leadership of the department for asking for this assistance.”
The COPS's Critical Response program is designed to provide assistance to law enforcement agencies across the country that are experiencing major incidents.
In 2023, there were 18 incidents in which 19 people were shot by IMPD officers. Ten people died in the shootings.
13News reached out to IMPD to ask questions about the DOJ review. The department declined to discuss it. Instead, IMPD and Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett released a prerecorded message.
In the 2-minute and 4-second message, Bailey said this review will not look at individual officers' actions as the department "already has processes in place to review that."
Hogsett stressed the city is committed to accountability and transparency. At the time of this article's publishing, 13News is still waiting for a response to see if he will answer questions about the DOJ review.
In the prerecorded video, Hogsett notes the review will "take time," but gives no timetable. Hogsett promises the city will share the DOJ review report with the community once it is finalized.
(Editor's note: This story has been corrected to update the number of people who have died in the shootings from nine to 10.)