South Bend Police Department

South Bend police say on Thursday they arrested a man possessing a stolen gun with the help of their new Drone as First Responder, after officers had stopped chasing him for safety reasons.

South Bend police say the drone will respond to select incidents and arrive on scene faster than officers, giving them critical information that will safe the department time and resources.

Officials with Flock Safety, the company selling South Bend Police a new Drone as First Responder program, say the drones can beat officers to the scene but they also can raise Fourth Amendment unreasonable search concerns if not used legally.

South Bend police say they quickly found 20-year-old hit-and-run suspect Michael Pyburn Jr. after analysts in their Real Time Crime Center spotted video of a man wearing a distinctive coat that witnesses had described the suspect wearing.

"It’s time to pass the proverbial torch at South Bend, but I have a lot of tools left in the toolbox and I need to utilize them," Police Chief Scott Ruszkowski said during a press conference Friday at the County-City Building. "I can’t just walk away from police work. Not gonna happen."

The South Bend Community Police Review Board continues making progress. Community Police Review Office Director Charles King says the board had five dispositions in 2025, a number he hopes to improve upon in 2026.

The South Bend Community Police Review Board failed to reach a consensus on an officer’s treatment of a 14-year-old girl outside the downtown McDonald’s back in August, but members did raise some concerns.

The South Bend Police Department says its Use of Force Committee will evaluate the arrest to make sure officers followed the department’s policies. The department says it shared the bodycam footage to “to dispel some narratives” shared on social media.

South Bend Police officers' Santa's Elficers program, started in 2016, has outgrown several spaces and they say buying a permanent building will help them continue to grow and serve more kids at Christmas.

An officer's body cam video shows stabbing and confinement suspect Christopher Chester coming at six officers with a hammer. Two fired shots at him, hitting him with eight bullets. He died two hours later at a hospital.