Matthew C. Thomas has been a police officer since 2005 and holds the rank of Major within the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department (IMPD). He is currently assigned to the Criminal Investigations Division. In addition to this role, he serves as the coordinator for the Indianapolis Violence Reduction Partnership (IVRP), a bi-weekly Central Indiana law enforcement sensitive shooting review and investigator information sharing meeting.

Major Thomas holds a Bachelor of Science from the Indiana University School of Informatics and a Certificate of Applied Computer Science from Purdue University. He is a 2020 graduate of the FBI National Academy Session #279 and a 2012 graduate of the IMPD Leadership Academy. His professional interests include promoting information sharing within the criminal justice system and supporting the career development of new police officers.

Major Thomas was previously assigned as the supervisor of the North District Flex Team, a uniformed proactive unit with the primary goals of supporting beat officers, gathering street level individual, group, and gang information. Other past assignments include, Executive Officer of the Criminal Investigations Division, District Patrol Supervisor, Field Training Officer, Strategic Information Officer (SIO), Crime Reduction Team Officer, and Uniformed Patrol Officer.

Kevin  Armbruster (Ret.  Lieutenant)  retired from the  Milwaukee  Police  Department after 29 years.  Kevin is currently assisting the  US  DOJ,  Office of  Justice  Programs,  Bureau of  Justice Assistance as a  contractor through his work with the  National  Police  Foundation.    During  Lt. Armbruster’s career, he has worked for various Special Operations groups focusing on narcotics, gang, and organized crime investigations.  As a Detective for 18 years, Lt. Armbruster worked in the Criminal Investigation Bureau of the ATF Task Force, Homicide and Violent Crimes units. Lt Armbruster also supervised the  ATF, FBI, and  US  Secret  Service  Task  Forces.   In addition,  Lt. Armbruster created and lead the operational units of the Milwaukee Police Department National Integrated Ballistic Identification Network (NIBIN) program to combat the increased violent crime in the area.  The utilization of social media mining, cell data, NIBIN, offender targeting (ATF Task Force), and intelligence strategies, resulted in the arrest of targeted arrests of violent criminals and recovery of violent crime evidence to proceed further in court. Kevin has also presented at the US  Department of  Justice/ US  Attorney’s  Office  Conference on  Violent  Crime and  Gang Conspiracy  Reduction  Techniques,  the  Midwest  Organized  Crime  Conference, and  Wisconsin Gang and Youth Violence Prevention Summit.  He has received the Chiefs Excellence Award from St. Paul Police Department for Violent Crime Reduction and dismantling a national violent crime organization responsible for over 130 shootings.

Kerry  Yerico has fifteen years of public safety and analytical experience working in three metropolitan jurisdictions before beginning her work as a Senior Program Manager with the National  Police  Foundation in  2018. She currently serves as the  Project  Director for the Bureau of Justice  Assistance’s  National  Resource and  Technical  Assistance  Center for Improving Law Enforcement Investigations (NRTAC) and the National Crime Gun Intelligence Center (CGIC) Initiative. The project aims to improve law enforcement investigations at the local level through the development of resources and focuses on the prevention of gun violence. Ms.  Yerico also works on the  CompStat  360  project,  which takes a  proactive approach to integrate community needs and feedback with traditional performance monitoring processes in police departments. Prior to her work with the  National  Police  Foundation, Ms. Yerico served as the  Associate Director of Criminal Justice Programs with the Baltimore City Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice where she assisted with the implementation of Baltimore’s crime reduction strategy and the development of collaborative efforts between local, state, and federal agencies. Ms. Yerico utilized evidence-based research to support recommendations for the reduction of violent crime and other public safety measures. Prior to her role at the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice, she served for four years as the Director of Criminal Intelligence & Analysis at the Camden County Police Department in Camden, NJ. She created the department’s analytical unit and was responsible for the dissemination of tactical and strategic intelligence assessments.  Before beginning her work in  Camden,  Ms. Yerico served as the  Director of Analytical Intelligence at the Baltimore Police Department. Ms. Yerico’s team operated out of a real-time crime center to support both patrol and investigations. She first began her career as a  law enforcement analyst with the  Metropolitan  Police  Department in  Washington,  DC focusing on strategic crime analysis.