MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Authorities say seven people have been charged in Tennessee after federal agents were sent to Memphis to fight violent crime.
U.S. Attorney Michael Dunavant said two people were charged with using drugs in possession of a firearm and lying when buying a gun from a federal firearms licensee.
One person was charged with possessing a firearm while illegally in the U.S., and another was charged with distributing methamphetamine.
Three cases, a bank robbery and two thefts from a federal firearms licensee, remain under seal.
To date, Operation Legend has generated nearly 1,500 arrests and hundreds of state and local charges in cities across the country, Attorney General William Barr announced Wednesday.
From Chicago to Cleveland to St. Louis, almost 400 guns have been seized since early July and 217 people face federal charges for crimes ranging from firearm and drug violations to acts of violence, like armed robbery and carjacking.
Many more have been charged by local prosecutors, authorities said, and some police departments that are receiving the federal assistance are seeing a change in their overall crime trends.
Under the program, more than 1,000 federal law enforcement officers were sent to nine cities experiencing increasing crime rates to partner with local police in a surge that drew sharp concern from some local leaders.
Flanked by federal prosecutors and the families of violent crime victims at a news conference in Kansas City, Barr hailed the program as “one of the most significant law enforcement operations in the Department of Justice” and shared what he said were “encouraging early results.”
Law enforcement leaders in Kansas City, Missouri, where 18 homicide suspects have been arrested since the launch of the program in July and five charged, agreed.
The city’s clearance rate for homicides, which measures the number solved by police and referred for prosecution, has increased from 34% to 35% since the beginning of June.
“We wouldn’t have solved the cases as timely as we had and we wouldn’t have suspects in custody without our federal partnerships,” said the city’s police chief, Richard Smith. “This is absolutely making a difference.”
