It is one of four "excluded cities" in Marion County.

The fourth excluded city of Southport is currently patrolled by Metro Police.

Excluded cities in bold.

It contains the communities of Acton, Wanamaker, and the eastern portion of the excluded city of Beech Grove.

Nevertheless, the excluded cities are also part of Indianapolis-Marion County and are thus represented within Unigov's legislative body, known as the City-County Council.

'Marion County' has a consolidated city-county government, known as Unigov, in which only four municipalities retain full government autonomy (including a mayor and city council) as "excluded cities".

The cities of Beech Grove, Lawrence, and Southport, and the town of Speedway are known as "excluded cities," and retain government autonomy in most respects.

The four "excluded cities" of Beech Grove, Lawrence, Southport, and Speedway still maintain separate police forces, as do many of the school districts and "included towns" within Marion County.

Although geographically completely surrounded by Indianapolis, Beech Grove is an excluded city so it maintains its own police, fire, public works, and parks departments and operates its own public library and senior-citizens' center.

Its operational jurisdiction covers all of the consolidated city of Indianapolis and Marion County except for the Airport Authority and three of the four excluded cities of Beech Grove, Lawrence, and Speedway (see Unigov).