What We Investigate
What We Investigate
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The FBI works around the globe to combat the most dangerous criminal and security threats facing our country—from international and domestic terrorists to spies on U.S. soil…from cyber villains to corrupt government officials…from mobsters to violent street thugs…from child predators to serial killers.
We currently have jurisdiction over violations in more than 200 categories of federal law. They generally fall under our three national security priorities and our five criminal priorities as follows:
National Security Priorities:
1. Protect the United States from terrorist attack
Protecting the homeland from terrorist attack is the responsibility of all law enforcement agencies. No single law enforcement or intelligence agency can accomplish this mission alone. However, the lead domestic agency for combating terrorism is the FBI. At the local level, the FBI works through its more than 100 Joint Terrorism Task Forces (JTTFs) across the country. These task forces combine federal, state, and local agencies into an integrated investigative force. The full-time task force officers have the same clearances and accesses as FBI agents and are complete partners in terrorism investigations.
The Indianapolis JTTF—created in 1999 and made up of representatives of more than 15 agencies—proactively investigates and rapidly responds to all possible terrorist activity within the division’s territory. The task force mitigates threats posed by international and domestic terrorist extremists by sharing information with law enforcement and public safety partners. It conducts threat assessments and uses a myriad of techniques to gather intelligence and determine criminal violations. Working with the FBI’s Field Intelligence Group and the Indiana Intelligence Fusion Center, the JTTF analyzes and shares information with many partners—for example, federal agencies like the CIA, the National Security Agency, and the Department of Defense; state and local law enforcement; and international partners, such as counterparts in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Israel, and New Zealand.
Identifying, disrupting, and neutralizing the threat posed by extremists who are in the later stages of radicalization or who are taking steps to further a terrorist plot is best addressed by the JTTF, along with an “early warning network” of police officers and private citizens in the Indiana community. Our strategy is to proactively investigate any threat before it germinates into a possible terrorist attack.
For more information on the FBI’s national efforts to prevent terrorist attacks, see our Counterterrorism webpage.
2. Protect the United States against foreign intelligence operations and espionage
Today, more foreign spies—not just traditional adversaries but also allies, hackers, and terrorists—are trying to steal more of our secrets from more places than ever before. What do they want? Our country’s juiciest classified information, of course—from military plans to national security vulnerabilities to our own intelligence activities. But increasingly, they also want our country’s trade secrets—innovations that give us a leg up in the global marketplace—and seemingly harmless technologies that could be used to develop or improve weapons of mass destruction.
In Indianapolis, we have a dedicated foreign counterintelligence squad that—in line with the FBI’s National Strategy for Counterintelligence—works to keep weapons of mass destruction and other embargoed technologies from falling into wrong hands, to protect secrets of the U.S. government (including the intelligence community) and critical national assets, and to help strengthen the national threat picture by proactively gathering information and intelligence. Our work includes knowing the key targets in our territory, developing strategic partnerships with area institutions, and disrupting the efforts of insiders and key nations.
For more information on the FBI’s national program, see our Counterintelligence webpage.
3. Protect the United States against cyber-based attacks and high-technology crimes
The FBI leads the national effort to investigate high-tech crimes, including cyber-based terrorism and espionage, computer and network intrusions, and major cyber fraud and identify theft. To stay in front of current and emerging trends, we gather and share information and intelligence with public and private sector partners worldwide.
In Indianapolis, we have a squad dedicated to cyber crimes and attacks, and we participate in a variety of multi-agency partnerships. In addition, our Evansville and Merrillville Resident Agencies each run a Cyber Crimes Task Force. See our Partnerships webpage for details.
For more information on the FBI’s national efforts, see our Cyber Investigations webpage.
Criminal Priorities
4. Combat public corruption at all levels
Corruption in government threatens our country’s democracy and national security, impacting everything from how well our borders are secured and our neighborhoods protected…to verdicts handed down in courts…to the quality of our roads and schools. And it takes a significant toll on our pocketbooks, too, wasting billions of tax dollars every year.
Report suspected corruption to our corruption hotline at (317) 845-4812 or (219) 650-6230 or to IP-WCC@ic.fbi.gov.
Our investigations in Indianapolis focus on violations of federal law by public officials in local, state, and federal government, such as bribery, contract and procurement fraud, antitrust, environmental crimes, election fraud, and violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
For more information on the FBI’s national efforts, see our Public Corruption webpage.
5. Protect civil rights
The FBI is the lead agency for investigating violations of federal civil rights laws…and we take that responsibility seriously. Specifically, we aggressively investigate and work to prevent hate crime, color of law abuses, human trafficking, and freedom of access to clinic entrances violations—the four top priorities of our civil rights program. We focus on all of these issues in Indianapolis.
For more information on our overall efforts, see our Civil Rights webpage.
6. Combat transnational/national criminal organizations and enterprises
Criminal organizations—from mob families to street gangs to drug trafficking outfits—sow violence and crime in our communities and create underground economies that undercut free enterprise.
Most of our work in this priority throughout the Indianapolis Division focuses on violent gangs and drugs through a variety of law enforcement partnerships. See our Partnerships webpage for details.
Learn more about our national work to combat organized crime and violent street gangs.
7. Combat major white-collar crime
Fraud—the art of deliberate deception for unlawful gain—is as old as history; the term “white-collar crime” was reportedly coined in 1939 and has since become synonymous with the full range of frauds committed by business and government professionals. Today’s financial criminals and con artists are more savvy and sophisticated than ever, engineering everything from complex stock and health care frauds and intellectual property rip-offs.
We have two squads dedicated to fighting white-collar crime in the Indianapolis region. The first focuses generally on fraud; the second targets health care fraud.
For more information, see our White-Collar Crime webpage.
8. Combat significant violent crime
Even with our post-9/11 national security responsibilities, we continue to play a key role in combating violent crime in big cities and local communities across the United States. Beyond our work targeting violent gangs and other criminal enterprises, we focus on such issues as crimes against children (including online predators), crime on Indian reservations, the search for wanted fugitives, serial killings, kidnapping, murder for hire, bank robberies, and special crimes like the carriage of weapons on aircraft and crime on the high seas.
In Indianapolis, we work closely with a host of law enforcement partners to address the full range of violent crimes. See our Partnerships webpage for details.
For more details on our overall national efforts, see our Violent Crime and Major Thefts webpage.
