Baltimore To Get Boost From Feds To Fight Violent Crime
WASHINGTON (WJZ) — The Justice Department announced a crackdown Wednesday aimed at driving down violent crime in seven of the nation's most violent cities, including Baltimore.
Attorney General William Barr announced the initiative known as Operation Relentless Pursuit at a news conference in Detroit, Michigan, alongside leaders of the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and U.S. Marshals Service.
As part of the initiative, the Justice Department will intensify federal law enforcement resources in the seven cities — Detroit, Albuquerque, Baltimore, Cleveland, Kansas City, Memphis and Milwaukee — which have violent crime rates high above the national average.
The Justice Department will increase the number of federal law enforcement officers in each of the cities and add additional officers to federal task forces. The department is also committing up to $71 million in federal grant funds that can help fund the task forces, be used to hire new officers, pay overtime and purchase new equipment and technology.
The federal law enforcement agencies will work with local and state investigators to target violent criminals, members of drug cartels and gun traffickers by utilizing federal resources and intelligence. Agents will also utilize the ATF's national database known as NIBIN, or the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network, which can help match images of bullet cases collected at crime scenes to link shootings.
The US Attorney's Office will also partner with more agents and officers in federal court. US Attorney Robert Hur said his office has prosecuted 24 percent more Baltimore City defendants in violent crime cases than last year.
"What you see before you is one team fighting one fight," US Attorney Robert Hur said. "The additional law enforcement funding and agents will help us work together toward our goal of a safer Baltimore."
Targeting violent crime has been a top priority for the Justice Department, Barr and President Donald Trump.
Barr, an ardent backer of law enforcement, was known for a tough-on-crime approach in his previous stint as the nation's chief law enforcement officer in the early 1990s as the national violent crime rate peaked. Those efforts, he has said, helped seriously cut down the nation's violent crime rate.
Since he assumed the role of attorney general in February, Barr has vowed to use the federal government's resources to drive down violent crime in cities where the crime rate has been rising and has made prosecuting violent criminals and gun offenders a top priority for federal prosecutors.
Still, Barr has also embraced a bipartisan criminal justice reform measure known as the First Step Act, which gives judges more discretion when sentencing some drug offenders, eases mandatory minimum sentences and encourages inmates to participate in programs designed to reduce the risk of recidivism, with credits that can be used to gain an earlier release.