Federal agents are embedding with homicide investigators in Prince George’s County starting this week in a rare move as authorities scramble to react to a string of 13 killings that have occurred already in 2011. “It is very unusual for us to bring in agents and embed them in our homicide division,” said police spokesman Maj. Andy Ellis. “I can’t remember us doing that since probably the mid-to-late ’90s.”

The county has been rocked by news of a homicide spike since New Year’s Day. The county’s 13 killings exceed the 12 U.S. military deaths that have occurred this year in Afghanistan as of Friday morning.