Indianapolis, IN
Slew of bills could tighten state’s grip on Indianapolis law enforcement
Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears speaks in favor of gun laws in bars
Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears speaks in an interview with IndyStar on Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025.
From granting some Indiana National Guard members full policing power to creating a state-appointed special prosecutor to oversee part of downtown Indianapolis, Republican lawmakers are proposing changes that would tighten the state’s grip on law enforcement in the capital city and beyond.
Multiple bills filed this legislative session aim to impose the Indiana General Assembly’s will on local governments like Indianapolis that Republicans perceive to be too lax on crime. Major changes would allow elected county prosecutors to be impeached and grant a governor-appointed special prosecutor authority over Indy’s Mile Square. Subtler proposals would strip power from some civilian-led police oversight boards — a George Floyd–era reform passed by many cities including Indianapolis to increase accountability — and criminalize street homelessness.
Republicans who back such state intervention say that Democrats who run cities like Indianapolis fail to take violent crime as seriously as they should, in favor of more progressive stances on criminal justice issues.
“Their ‘reform’ agenda has meant weaker enforcement, dangerous plea deals and fewer consequences for repeat offenders,” State Rep. Andrew Ireland, R-Indianapolis, said of Indianapolis elected officials ahead of the 2026 session. “The result is predictable: Indianapolis families live in fear while violent criminals walk free.”
Critics say that collectively, the bills align with a recurrent problem: state leaders trying to intervene in cities to score political wins rather than to improve communities. If passed, they say the policies could undermine law enforcement agencies that report to local elected officials and can be readily held accountable, unlike forces sent in by the governor.
“I don’t like the anti-democratic — and that’s with a small d — I don’t like the anti-democratic tendencies of this legislation,” Mark Russell, director of advocacy for the Indianapolis Urban League, told IndyStar.
Giving some National Guard members full police powers
One such proposal that’s moving forward, House Bill 1343, would give select National Guard members full authority to police cities and make arrests during emergencies declared by the Indiana governor. Indiana law currently limits guardsmen’s ability to make arrests to specific situations, like when participants in an “unlawful assembly” refuse to leave.
The goal is to ensure guardsmen are ready to support local law enforcement during extreme situations such as riots or terrorist attacks like the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, Indiana National Guard Adjutant General Larry Muennich said during a Jan. 8 hearing on the bill. Guard spokeswoman Lauren Houck previously told IndyStar that the legislation was partially inspired by periods of “civil unrest, similar to what occurred in Indianapolis and Louisville during the 2020 pandemic” in the wake of Floyd’s killing by Minneapolis police.
The enhanced policing power would apply to roughly 500 military police who make up less than 5% of the total force of Indiana’s guardsmen, Muennich said. Military police, who already do training on topics like managing civil disturbances and use of force, will be required to do an abridged version of Indiana law enforcement training as part of this change, he said.
“What this is is a tool in our toolkit,” Muennich told the House Veterans and Public Affairs Committee. “It allows us the capabilities when we need those capabilities the most, and it allows us to do it quickly and it allows us to do it responsibly. Because if I can do it now and I can set those authorities now … I don’t have to worry about it when I’m needed.”
The bill moved forward with a 9-3 committee vote, mostly along party lines, and must still be voted on by the full state House and Senate. Indiana Gov. Mike Braun supports the change because “law enforcement deserves every tool and partners they need to keep Hoosiers safe,” he previously told IndyStar.
But multiple Democrats objected to the broad authority this policy would grant the governor to decide when an emergency warrants military police’s involvement. Indiana law allows the governor to summon the guard to active duty for reasons including invasions, public disasters, breach of the peace and, most sweepingly, “any other time the governor considers necessary.”
Amid President Donald Trump’s controversial National Guard deployments nationwide, critics worry a governor could abuse this power in the name of being tough on crime, potentially setting off dangerous encounters with residents. In Tennessee, for instance, where the Republican governor deployed guardsmen to Democrat-ruled Memphis to fight crime, a judge later ruled that crime rates there did not warrant an emergency response under the state’s constitution.
“It’s so subjective: What does [the governor] find to be an emergency for which he could call up the Guard? Even though violent crime has fallen precipitously in Indianapolis, for political reasons, does he think the state of public safety in Indianapolis constitutes an emergency?” State Rep. Mitch Gore, an Indianapolis Democrat and captain at the Marion County Sheriff’s Office who voted against the bill, told IndyStar.
Gore and other critics also said that National Guard members haven’t worked to build community trust the way that local police departments have. In diverse cities like Indianapolis, residents are likely to feel safer interacting with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department than guardsmen who may not share their experiences and don’t report to local elected officials.
“I think everybody wants to be safe, but there’s also just the respect for rights and individual liberties, even in a chaotic situation such as an emergency or a riot,” said Marshawn Wolley, policy director for the African American Coalition of Indianapolis, an advocacy organization made up of local civic groups. “I think the concern would be whether or not the National Guard would have that same level of both training and understanding of policing expectations in this community or any other community for that matter.”
Other bills target prosecutors, civilian-led police oversight
A handful of other bills aim to reshape aspects of criminal justice in Indianapolis more directly.
The most significant examples target Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears, whom Republican critics frequently decry as too lenient on crime. Ireland is pushing a constitutional amendment that would allow the General Assembly to impeach elected judges and prosecutors for “crime, incapacity or negligence.”
Another proposal, Senate Bill 145, would require the governor to appoint a special prosecutor who would have primary authority to prosecute crimes committed in the Mile Square area of downtown Indianapolis, starting in 2027. The bill would also force Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett to form a power-sharing agreement between state police and IMPD, or else cede all control over law enforcement in the special district come 2027.
The bill says the state must step in to combat public safety challenges that “negatively impact tourism and economic development” downtown. The author, State Sen. Michael Young, a Republican who represents parts of Marion and Hancock counties, was not made available for an interview.
Calling the proposal “extreme,” Hogsett spokeswoman Aliya Wishner said “the notion that the state would take over public safety responsibilities downtown is a step too far.” Overall, Indianapolis crime in 2025 fell significantly from the previous year, according to IMPD data, with murders and non-fatal shooting investigations both down about 20%.
Meanwhile, Republican lawmakers are also proposing tweaks on hot-button topics like police reform and homelessness.
Senate Bill 284 would weaken certain civilian-led police oversight boards like one in Indianapolis, making them strictly advisory and stripping away their power to pass binding rules. Senate Bill 285, which will be discussed in committee on Jan. 14, would make street homelessness a misdemeanor punishable with a $500 fine or up to 60 days in jail.
Critics like Wolley worry how such bills could further erode trust between police and vulnerable communities.
“The community has worked hard with IMPD to arrive at a consensus standard on what policing should be,” Wolley said. “I think that’s important for any community, so that they are not being policed but rather being served by the police and actually protected.”
Email Indianapolis City Hall Reporter Jordan Smith at JTSmith@usatodayco.com. Follow him on X @jordantsmith09 and Bluesky @jordanaccidentally.bsky.social.
Hear why Indiana Members Credit Union chose Bottleworks District for headquarters
John Newett, president and CEO of Indiana Members Credit Union, talks about why the company chose the Bottleworks District for its new headquarters.
Companies are increasingly looking north for space, a sign that employers still want in-person offices just not in the downtown high-rises that once drew business. The trend means downtown office space remains in high-supply and low-demand — unless, that is, the office space comes flush with amenities, the market shows.
The overall Indianapolis office market sat at 21.2% vacant at the end of 2025, a slight dip from earlier in the year but an improvement over the year before, according to research published in January by Colliers.
The downtown office market vacancy rate, however, did not budge, remaining at 26%, signaling the challenges landlords face in drawing companies to move to or resign leases in the city’s urban core. Leasing on the north side of the city and Hamilton County largely buoyed the overall health of the Indianapolis metro office market, said Nick Svarczkopf, CBRE senior vice president of office and medical properties.
The reason is relatively simple, tenant representatives say: Companies downsized as employees work more hybrid hours and those who still want office space lean toward shared, untraditional layouts. Most downtown office space, especially in the largest office buildings, tends to be older, more old-fashioned workspaces dotted with cubicles and individual office walls.
The rare exception is Bottleworks, a development off the main strip of Mass Ave. The Hendricks Commercial Properties space is completely filled, with a fully pre-leased building in the pipeline.
In June, law firm Ice Miller signed an 85,000-square-foot lease in the Bottleworks Phase III under development off Mass Ave set to open in 2028. The contract became the largest downtown lease since 2019 and made the firm the largest tenant at the state-of-the-art Bottleworks campus.
Bottleworks offers many of the features workplace real estate experts say employees in 2026 value most: fitness centers, walkable areas and close dining spots to grab lunch. Employers have taken note, paying premium rent to move into office space that has access to these more experiential options, said Rich Forslund, executive vice president at Colliers’ Indianapolis office.
“Downtown has some but the suburbs have quite a bit,” Forslund said. “So people are moving to those spots in order to try to draw folks back to the office.”
Companies put employee experience first
A stroll through the Indiana Members Credit Union’s new headquarters at 835 N. College Ave., part of Bottleworks, reveals all of those aforementioned amenities — plus an employee-only outdoor patio, a custom soda and sparkling water machine and a state-of-the-art golf simulator, saving the company time-consuming and costly bonding outings to Top Golf.
For IMCU employees, the new office represents a drastic change from their old headquarters on the south side that cobbled together several strip mall-like buildings and a surface parking lot into a corporate campus. Roughly 120 of the company’s 467 employees work at the Bottleworks office, where they are required to come at least four days a week. The remaining employees work at customer branches around the city.
President and CEO John Newett said the credit union ran out of space at its south-side location, prompting the need for the company’s move at the start of the new year. To ensure that doesn’t happen again soon, IMCU built in space for additional workers in the new office and hopes the spot just off Mass. Ave. will attract younger employees looking for an up-and-coming place to work as well as draw new employees from other suburbs to the north and west.
Part of that strategy included finding as many “wow factors” in the new space as possible, Newett said.
“It’s a little more fun than the traditional office,” Newett said.
Indy lags behind other major downtowns
Across the country, office vacancy is hovering around 20.5% as the U.S. market shows signs of stabilizing after years of growing vacancies following the pandemic. Yet statistics from cities across the nation show that Indianapolis is relatively unique with suburban areas outpacing dense downtown neighborhoods.
While Indianapolis’ downtown real estate market still struggles, other cities are leaning on downtown office space for new leases. Nationwide, downtown districts accounted for 42% of leasing activity in the final three months of the year, despite comprising just 35% of overall supply, CBRE reported. Leasing rose 8% year-over-year in 2025, while suburban activity fell 7% over the same period.
In Indianapolis, those numbers are much lower: Just 17% of leases during the same timeframe were located downtown.
The stats are not too worrisome to experts, as Indianapolis typically lags behind the bigger coastal markets, Forslund said. But Indianapolis will need to decide where it wants to go in the future, whether that means upgrading older buildings or converting more empty space to apartments and hotels.
“I refer to it as we are still in our teenage years, trying to figure out what we want to be,” Forslund said.
Indy employers will have to get more creative, or less picky, in the near future as supply dries up on the booming north side market. For instance, Midtown Carmel sits virtually full. And just one commercial office building for rent is under construction in Hamilton County, the Union at Fishers District, a mixed-use development with luxury office space set to open in early 2027 next to IKEA.
Elsewhere around the area, companies are constructing build-to-own properties but those won’t be available to other companies looking for open space and workstations for their employees. Those projects include Republic Airways’ corporate headquarters expansion in Carmel, a Merchants Bank project in Carmel and Elanco’s new headquarters, which opened in October on the west side of Indianapolis.
As building new office space has become more and more expensive, more landlords are choosing to reinvest in and upgrade their existing offices in a bid to make them more attractive, Svarczkopf said.
“Based on the way the market is right now, they have to upgrade in order to compete,” Svarczkopf said. “The ones that have been successful have gone through the process of reinvesting in the property.”
Even with upgrades, the competition will be hot. At Indiana Members Credit Union, employees have responded well to the new office, executives said. Many amenities, like indoor parking that is patrolled, are not available elsewhere downtown.
“It just answered a lot of the questions we had and the amenities we wanted to provide for our team,” Newett said.
Alysa Guffey writes business and development stories for IndyStar. Have a story tip? Contact her at amguffey@usatodayco.com.
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A 21-year-old man was arrested and accused of raping a University of Indianapolis student on campus.
Police say the investigation began on Jan. 24 when University of Indianapolis Police received a call from a woman who said she believed she was drugged at a bar in downtown Indianapolis and then raped in her dorm room.
Court documents say she met Marwan Khalaf of Noblesville at the Metro Bar on Massachusetts Avenue and went back to her dorm room, where he repeatedly raped her. When she woke up one of the last times, he was gone.
According to court documents, she next went to shower and passed out again. She woke up in the shower at 7 a.m. Jan. 24 and called 911.
The student told investigators she had gone out alone on Jan. 23 and took an Uber to a few bars downtown before arriving at the Metro Bar at 12:51 a.m. Jan. 24. Court documents state that’s where she met Khalaf and they danced together.
Court documents say the bar refused to serve the student a drink because she was already intoxicated when she arrived. Khalaf then bought her a shot and they asked her to leave. She says Khalaf left with her and offered to take her home.
The student says she recalls his car being “parked directly across the street from Metro.” According to UIPD Detective Jay Arnold, the student’s identification card was used to enter the dorm at 2:13 a.m.
In an interview with detectives, Khalaf admitted to being at the bar and kissing her, but denied having sexual contact with the student. He told detectives he took care of her because she was drunk and said he left the dorm when it became light outside because his mother was calling him.
Khalaf has been charged with two counts of rape and one count of sexual battery.
Indianapolis-area students speak on proposed ILEA changes
Students from both Shortridge High School and KIPP Indy Public Schools speak on the proposed models from the Indianapolis Local Education Alliance.
The signers of a recent statement by the African American Coalition of Indianapolis questioning who speaks for the Black community raise concerns about process while our students of color continue to be left behind in a public education system that offers too little opportunity and too few positive outcomes.
We agree that parents and students should be heard, which is why we’re troubled that our voices were overlooked during the public process led by the Indianapolis Local Education Alliance. We were present at nearly every ILEA meeting, sharing our personal experiences and asking leaders to take bold action, and we spent months discussing and researching ideas before offering a series of recommendations to improve schools in both IPS and the charter sector.
For many of us, speaking up to improve public education in our city goes back years. We have consistently focused on stronger accountability for all schools within IPS and on growing what works in communities that most need quality schools. So we have to ask: Did you not hear us? Or did you choose to ignore us because our opinions don’t align with yours? Are you now trying to diminish our voices by suggesting that our affiliation with certain organizations means we can’t think or speak for ourselves?
Let us be clear. Our advocacy is driven by our own experiences, and it is these perspectives that add value to the debate we’re having as a community. We live in neighborhoods that are directly impacted by the opportunity gap. It takes courage to advocate, and when voices like ours are attacked, it discourages others in our community from standing up and speaking out.
We strongly support IPS — many of us attended the district as children and have our own students there now. We also support a system of quality charter schools, and we will continue to advocate for both despite attempts to pit sectors against one another. While these recent words and claims are unfair and deeply hurtful, we remain dedicated to bringing voices together to solve problems.
It is time to stop the toxic politics of school type and focus on progress for children, especially Black and brown students who have been harmed by a tragic opportunity gap that has existed for generations. While House Bill 1423 is not perfect, we see it as the best opportunity in many years to hold all schools accountable for improved results, expand transportation and access across IPS, and move toward financial stability across the system.
You may disagree with us on the policy, and that is OK. But please do not dismiss our voices or discount our stories, which represent so many in IPS who simply want a high-quality, safe public school experience for their children.
LaToya Hale, Greg Henson, Dontia Dyson, Cristal Salgado and Swantella Nelson are Indianapolis parents.
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