A bill that would expand a crime task force has received a unanimous vote from the Indiana House of Representatives and moved to the Senate.
House Bill 1095 would allow the Indiana Crime Guns Task Force area to include Lake County. Rep. Earl Harris, D-East Chicago, authored the bill, which was on the House floor Tuesday afternoon.
The bill received 89 votes for passage Tuesday afternoon. House Bill 1095 also received unanimous support from the Veterans Affairs and Public Safety Committee on Jan. 30.
The Indiana Crime Guns Task Force was signed into law in 2021 and addresses violent crime in Boone, Hamilton, Hancock, Hendricks, Marion, Morgan, Johnson and Shelby counties, according to the Indiana General Assembly website. The task force expanded into Allen County two years ago, Harris said Tuesday.
“Part of the plan with the Crime Guns Task Force was to expand it throughout the state,” Harris said. “House Bill 1095 aims to add Lake County to the task force.”
Rep. Gregory Steuerwald, R-Danville, is one of the bill’s co-authors and told the House that the task force has been successful since it was created.
“The plan has always been to take this statewide,” he said. “There’s been over 20-some cities from across the country that have come here to visit this crime gun task force location. It is knocking it out of the park.”
In 2024, the task force investigated more than 150 cases that led to the arrest of 232 people, the seizure of more than 270 illegal firearms and 75,507 grams of illegal narcotics, according to a Jan. 30 news release from Harris.
The Lake County Coroner’s Office investigated 65 homicides last year, according to the news release.
“The task force would give Lake County the chance to clean up our streets, providing additional resources to connect guns to other crimes throughout the region,” Harris said. “Statistically speaking, we see a trend in the right direction for gun crimes in Lake County; we just want people to feel those statistics and I believe the expansion of this task force would keep trends flowing in the right direction enough for residents to feel a difference.”
Lake County Prosecutor Bernard Carter said in a statement that expanding the task force “is a critical step in addressing the flow of illegal firearms and reducing violent crime in our communities,” according to Post-Tribune archives. Carter fully supports the bill and urges lawmakers to pass it.
Gary Police Chief Derrick Cannon said he’s pleased to see the General Assembly taking these steps, according to Post-Tribune archives. The city’s police department plans to fully collaborate with the Indiana Crime Guns Task Force if the legislation passes.
Gary led Lake County’s homicide numbers for 2024, according to information from the coroner’s office. Of the county’s 65 homicide deaths last year, 24 victims died in Gary.
Harris’ news release also highlighted East Chicago and Hammond as areas that would benefit from the expanded task force. Lake County coroner statistics said Hammond had 13 homicide deaths in 2024, and East Chicago had four homicide deaths.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the Indiana General Assembly website did not say when the Senate will vote on House Bill 1095.