INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department is not planning major changes in 2025, because, Chief Chris Bailey told I-Team 8 on Monday, what it’s currently doing is working to bring down crime.

“Violent crime is down almost 20% in this city compared to last year, and that encompassing of all the violent crime. Property crime is down. Criminal homicides are down. Nonfatal shootings are down. Robberies are down,” Bailey said in an interview.

Working hand and hand with police to drive down crime is the city’s Office of Public Health and Safety.

Tony Lopez, deputy director of violence reduction at the Office of Public Health and Safety, said Monday, “The biggest challenge for 2025 is going to be homicide, right? No homicide is acceptable by us.”

The strategy for the office is still to focus on specific ZIP codes.

In 2024, the office mainly focused on the 46218, 46201, 46235, 46208, 46226 ZIP codes with 90-day neighborhood stabilization plans. When going into a ZIP code, the office’s representatives don’t just work in one spot.

Lopez said, “46218 is a neighborhood we worked in a lot this year in 2024, but moving different spots within 46218 is what was needed. Our outreach workers, our violence interrupters are going in that community on a daily basis. Working with those very high-risk individuals and helping them understand that there’s a different way of life that they could walk.”

While IMPD is proud of its successes in driving down crime in 2024, it’s also embarrassed about the conduct of some of its officers. Eight in total were arrested. Five were charged with sex-related crimes, and one was accused of domestic battery.

“It’s not representative of our agency as a whole. It just isn’t, but when you have an agency this big it’s inevitable that you’re going to have those things that occur. Do I wish they would never happen? Absolutely. Human beings are imperfect. They’re going to be mistakes that are made, and you can do all the checks you want and there are still going to be people that make a bad decision. One day, one time,, and it costs them their career and embarrasses the agency. That’s something that happens,” Bailey said.

Moving past the embarrassment, the police is turning the page to 2025. “We want to continue to drive down crime. That’s always the number that you all hold us accountable for, the community holds us accountable for. We want to keep pushing those numbers down. Our biggest issue in making sure that we’re able to continue that is staffing and so we have to double down our efforts to increase our staffing.”

To entice the best candidates, Bailey intends to fight for more funding to update equipment and buildings for IMPD. “We have to provide our people with 21st century equipment, 21st century training, and 21st century facilities. We need a new training academy. We need new district offices. We need a wellness center that shows our officers that we care about their mental health.”

IMPD and the Office of Public Health and Safety told I-Team 8 that both are prepared to tackle the challenges of 2025 head-on.