MEMPHIS, Tenn — The feds are bringing Operation LeGend to Memphis, aimed to make the city safer.
It’s an effort taking off across cities in the U.S. experiencing upticks in violent crime.
The operation is named after a 4-year-old who tragically lost his life in a shooting while he was sleeping in his home.
U.S. Attorney Michael Dunavant says Operation LeGend is not an introduction of federal riot police nor does it launch ice resources for immigration offenses.
Yet one activist calls it dangerous and predictable.
“We are talking about re-imagining what it means to do public safety,” said Dr. Earle Fisher, who is a pastor at Abyssinian Baptist Church. “That's even what’s coming out of the mouth of the administration. But these measures don’t seem to echo the re-imagining.”
The measures Fisher is talking about include Operation LeGend which U.S. Attorney Dunavant announced Thursday would be expanding to Memphis.
The department of justice will send 16 federal investigators to the city on temporary assignment and 24 permanent agent assignments to target gangs, violent gun crime and drug trafficking.
“This is the re-emergence of the 1990's crime bill, which is the foundation of mass incarceration, here in 2020,” said Fisher. “It seems like Memphis is going to be a test case on how to pull it off.”
Memphis just saw it’s most violent month of crime in July. With 43 homicides in 2020 and 15 in July of 2019. The previous record was 29.
Memphis police reported 156 murders in 2020 – 18 of those were children killed.
Memphis is currently experiencing a spike in homicides, more than 49%, a reported 23% increase in gun crime and over 19% increase in aggravated assault shootings.
In a statement Mayor Jim Strickland said in part, “We need more officers to investigate violent crimes to get violent criminals off our streets. As long as these federal agents are focused on this task, we will be supportive.”
“We seem to be trying to arrest our way to public safety and that doesn’t seem to be aligned with what the best numbers show us,” said Fisher.
The Bureau of Justice Assistance will provide $200,000 to support Operation LeGend's violent crime reduction efforts in Memphis. The COPS Office has made about $9.8 million available to the Memphis Police Department to fund the hiring of 50 officers.
Fisher says Operation LeGend is the wrong response.
“The philosophy is at work now is that we can somehow arrest more people and suppress crime, which is a matter of intervention,” explained Fisher. “But if we deal with poverty, we can look at it as a matter of prevention.”
The FBI is also offering a $25,000 reward for information in the deaths of Lequan Boyd and Ashlynn Luckett. The two were struck by gunfire while inside their home in Hickory Hill.