Federal Operation to Remove Violent Criminals in Memphis Deemed Success

The U.S. Justice Department has announced the results of Operation LeGend, which first launched in Missouri and then expanded to several cities, including Memphis. “Operation Legend removed violent criminals, domestic abusers, carjackers and drug traffickers from nine cities that were experiencing stubbornly high crime and took illegal firearms, illegal narcotics and illicit monies off the streets,” said former Attorney General William Barr, in a press release that the U.S. Justice Department released Wednesday.

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More Federal Money Coming to Fight Crime in Memphis

U.S. Attorney D. Michael Dunavant this week announced $398,864 in Department of Justice grant funding awarded to the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office to hire special prosecutors to try federal firearms cases originating in Memphis.

This according to a press release that officials with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Tennessee published on their website this week.

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Memphis Announces Results from First Month of Federal Crime Fighting Initiative Operation Legend

Local and federal law enforcement officers in Memphis have arrested 302 people as a part of Operation Legend, according to U.S. Attorney D. Michael Dunavant.

“Between August 6 and September 8, 2020, federal and local law enforcement agencies in the Operation Legend Task Force have worked cooperatively to arrest 106 people on new state and federal charges,” Dunavant said in a press release.

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Operation Legend Made 2,000 Arrests, Seized Around 182 Pounds of Drugs Since July, DOJ Says

Operation Legend, a federal initiative to combat murder and violent crime in major U.S. cities, has recorded over 2,000 arrests and seized large quantities of narcotics since the program’s July inception, according to the Department of Justice.

A total of 147 people have been arrested for homicide, 544 firearms have been seized and around 182 lbs (83 kilograms) of narcotics, including heroin, cocaine, meth and fentanyl, have been removed from the streets during the operation, according to a Thursday Department of Justice press release.

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Operation Legend Puts Focus on Violent Crime, Not Politics

At the small apartment where 4-year-old LeGend Taliferro was shot dead in his sleep, the sliding glass door is riddled with bullet holes. Glass is still strewn on the patio outside, the shards crunching under the feet of Attorney General William Barr and Police Chief Rick Smith as they visit the crime scene.

After the Kansas City boy was killed in June by a gunshot meant for somebody else, the Trump administration launched a nationwide crackdown on violent crime named in his honor. The Associated Press obtained access to briefings and law enforcement operations for an inside look at Operation Legend as Barr visited law enforcement officials in Detroit, Kansas City and Cleveland.

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