Attorney General William Barr highlighted the Justice Department’s Operation Legend on Wednesday, announcing that Chicago’s murder rate has dropped by “roughly” half in August after spiking this summer, and he pointed to 2,500 federal arrests nationwide as part of the multicity anti-crime effort.
Barr, who spoke at a press conference flanked by a number of key federal enforcement leaders, said that 1,000 federal law enforcement officers had been deployed to nine major cities and had conducted 2,500 arrests, including federal criminal charges against 600 defendants. Barr discussed Chicago’s murder rate in recent months — 58 murders in April, 84 murders in May, 96 murders in June, and 108 murders in July — and said that Operation Legend’s arrival in Chicago on July 22 played a role in helping stem the tide, with only 64 murders in August.
“I’m pleased to be in Chicago to address the most significant threat facing this city. The explosion of violent crime, particularly homicides, in Chicago earlier this year threatened not only the safety but this city’s way of life. The federal government responded with Operation Legend, one of the most significant federal law enforcement operations in years,” Barr said. “We have dedicated hundreds of the federal government’s best investigators, analysts, fugitive trackers, and other experts to work with our state and local colleagues in law enforcement here in Chicago to help get violent criminals off the streets. I am pleased to report that Operation Legend is working. Crime is down, and order is being restored to this great American city.”
Barr was flanked by Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives acting Director Regina Lombardo, FBI Deputy Director David Bowdich, leaders from the Drug Enforcement Administration and U.S. Marshals Service, and the U.S. attorneys from the Northern District of Illinois and the Northern District of Ohio.
A reporter asked why Chicago police weren’t there and “why they weren’t included in this unified message.”
“They were certainly invited and could’ve attended, but one of the odd things about our program in this city are some of the politics involved. I’m sure that was an element of it. I think you’ll have to ask the mayor and the police chief,” Barr said. “I’m later spending time with the chief and going on a drive-around with him. But I know that the city has put out information about the drop in crime and is crediting a number of factors. Absent among those factors is the federal contribution, so just the way things roll here in Chicago.”
President Trump has criticized Democratic Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot for her response to crime, tweeting in August that Chicago was “a total DISASTER!” Chicago’s police union endorsed Trump over the weekend. Lightfoot warned Trump against sending in “secret federal agents” in July.
John Lausch, the federal prosecutor in Chicago, followed up on Barr’s answer: “To be very clear, there is no disconnect between federal law enforcement and the Chicago Police Department. We work together all the time, they are supportive of all of our efforts, and we are thrilled to help them fight violent crime. Law enforcement to law enforcement level, things are going very well. I can assure you of that.”
The Justice Department said Wednesday that in Chicago, there has been a 50% decrease in homicides in the first seven weeks of Operation Legend as compared to the five weeks before the launch of the effort, noting that between April 2020 and the end of July 2020, Chicago experienced a steady increase in deadly shootings, which significantly dropped in August. The DOJ also said that 124 defendants in Chicago were charged with federal crimes, including 30 for narcotics offenses, 90 for firearms offenses, and four more for other violent crimes.
The DOJ’s press release revealed that there have been more than 2,000 arrests at the federal, state, and local court level, including approximately 592 defendants charged with federal crimes. The FBI has recovered 241 weapons while the U.S. Marshals Service has recovered 169 firearms and made 1,810 arrests, including 163 for homicide and 120 for sexual assault. The ATF has seized 587 firearms, while the DEA has seized approximately $5.19 million in drug proceeds, along with 268 firearms.
Barr also took a moment to honor Cleveland detective James Skernivitz, who was killed last week during an undercover operation on his first day with Operation Legend, and said the anti-crime effort was being conducted to help prevent deaths like that of 8-year-old Dajore Wilson, who was shot and killed on Labor Day in Chicago.
“Operation Legend is a vivid illustration of what dedicated law enforcement officers at all levels of government can do to keep people safe. Unfortunately, too many people in too many cities are intent on denigrating, demonizing, and defunding police,” Barr said, pointing to the weekend resignation of Rochester’s police chief and the August resignation of Seattle’s police chief. He also said that New York City, Baltimore, Los Angeles, and San Francisco had “recklessly slashed” police budgets.
“There is no harder job in America today and, I think, no more noble job than serving as a police officer,” Barr commented.
Operation Legend is named for 4-year-old LeGend Taliferro, who was killed the morning of June 29 while asleep in his Kansas City home. 22-year-old Ryson Ellis was recently arrested and charged with the murder.
“For us, LeGend is a symbol of the many hundreds of innocent lives that have been taken in the recent upsurge in crime in many of our urban areas,” Barr said last month. “His life mattered, and the lives of all of those victims mattered. His name should be remembered, and his senseless death, like those of all the other victims in this recent surge, should be unacceptable to all Americans.”
