On Wednesday, Attorney General William Barr announced that “Operation Legend” had netted 1,500 arrests across eight U.S. cities after launching just six weeks ago. The initiative, which was named after murdered 4-year-old LeGend Taliferro, was coordinated to fight the sudden surge of violent crime.
Approximately 217 of those arrested have already been charged with federal crimes, most of which are gun and drug-related. According to Barr, homicide charges have also been brought up against over 90 of the defendants.
“That’s more than 90 suspected killers who might still be on the streets without Operation Legend,” Barr said during a news conference in Kansas City, Missouri. “Our work is just getting started; there is no more important mission for the Department of Justice than keeping our communities safe.”
Operation Legend was launched in early July after LeGend Taliferro was shot and killed as he slept. Kansas City Police arrested a suspect in connection to the murder last week.
Taliferro’s mother thanked law enforcement, who apprehended her son’s killer during the press conference.
“We don’t have our son, but we have a weight lifted off of us,” Taliferro said.
Trump has also used the operation as a part of his presidential campaign. Last week, he held up a photo of LeGend during a White House news conference.
City leaders have been critical of the operation following incidents in both Seattle and Portland, where troops in fatigues have been present and Trump threatening to crack down on Democratic-run cities.
However, Barr said that this operation was only focused on assisting federal and state authorities with combating violent crimes.
“There has been a lot of confusion in the media, some of it not unintentional, conflating two different aspects of law enforcement. One is dealing with civil unrest, rioting, and the other is the classical traditional work that law enforcement does.”
Of the 1,485 people arrested, officials at the news conference could not confirm how many were still in custody. 400 firearms have also been confiscated since the start of the operation.
