The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it will provide more resources for Memphis, which is battling a wave of violent crime and has already broken its annual homicide record.
“Violent crime deprives communities of a fundamental sense of security in their own homes and neighborhoods,” said Acting Assistant Attorney Nicole M. Argentieri of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division in a DOJ press release. “This violent crime initiative will bring additional tools and resources used to investigate and prosecute violent crime and apply those tools to gangs and groups who are harming and disrupting communities here in Memphis.”
The tools at Memphis’ disposable will include prosecutors from the Violent Crime and Racketeering Section, described as “the nation’s foremost experts in charging federal racketeering (RICO) crimes,” along with “dedicated investigative agents, analysts, and forensic experts from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service, and the “[Memphis Police Department].”
“Through data-driven, targeted, and focused enforcement against the worst-of-the-worst violent criminals and organized groups, coupled with a strong focus on crime prevention, intervention, and reentry, I believe all of us, working together, can make an incredible difference and secure a safer future for all of Memphis,” said Argentieri.
During former President Donald Trump’s administration, the DOJ and then-Attorney General Bill Barr implemented Operation Legend, geared towards jailing violent criminals in Memphis.
That project resulted in hundreds of arrests of violent criminals including alleged bank robbers and carjackers, along with firearms seizures and thousands of pounds of drugs taken off the streets.
But Memphis still has a great deal of violent criminals and soft-on-crime policies.
Just this week, an 18-year-old named Elio White allegedly admitted to driving the getaway car in the Thanksgiving murder of a 15-year-old in Memphis. White was inexplicably released from the Shelby County Jail without bond by a judge who said in the past that he “detests” the Shelby County and Tennessee state bond system.
In August, a violent assault on an MPD officer went viral online, putting Mayor Jim Strickland (D) on the hot seat.
Gov. Bill Lee (R) is also responding to violent crime in the city.
He recently assigned 4o more Tennessee Highway Patrol officers to Shelby County and called for harsher penalties for criminals.
“At the same time, local officials must carry out their responsibility to uphold the law and hold criminals accountable, without resorting to soft on crime plea deals that have serious consequences and too-often result in more crime and more victims,” Lee said.
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Pete D’Abrosca is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter/X.
