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In KC, U.S. Attorney General Barr touts Operation LeGend numbers (AUDIO)

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Attorney General Bill Barr traveled to Kansas City Wednesday to highlight a federal-local program to make more arrests in violent crime cases in major cities.

LISTEN TO PRESS CONFERENCE (33:53)

 

LeGend Taliferro’s mother, Charron Powell, urged the community to continue to share tips to solve violent crimes.

Six weeks ago, the Justice Department offered a partnership to the Kansas City Police Department and named it after four-old LeGend Taliferro who was killed by gunshots fired into an apartment while he slept.

Operation LeGend is now in eight other cities, including St. Louis.

Barr listed the numbers:

“Through Operation Legend, the federal government has dispatched to the nine cities more than 1,000 additional agents to work shoulder-to-shoulder with state and local law enforcement.  Here in Kansas City, for example, we have deployed more than 185 additional agents from the FBI, DEA, ATF, and U.S. Marshals.

​We saw one result of those efforts last week, when Kansas City police arrested the suspected murderer of LeGend Taliferro.  The arrest was the product of hard work by the Kansas City Police Department, supported by critical assistance from the FBI and U.S. Marshals.  This arrest will not bring LeGend back, but it again makes his case an example of how we can come together to take violent criminals off the street and make our communities more safe.”

Chief Smith at Operation LeGend press conference in Kansas City, Missouri

Kansas City Police Chief Richard Smith said he welcomed the help.

“Our clearance rate is this morning, right around 60 something percent, right about the national average, maybe a little bit more. I think what we are seeing here with our assistance we are getting things done more timely. Things that would take us more time due to resources and manpower would not happen as quick,” Smith said.

St. Louis leaders welcome federal agents’ help with violent crime surge

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Fifty federal officers from different agencies will be assisting St. Louis police to cope with the recent resurgence of violent crime.

Governor Mike Parson attended the press conference in St. Louis Thursday for the extension of a program first tried in Kansas City. He said violent crime continues to be a ‘serious problem in the state.”

“We’ve got to get more resources in here to find violent criminals not only here but across the state. What happens in St. Louis is a huge factor for the entire state. This is not just a St. Louis problem,” Parson said.

Governor Parson: “What happens in St. Louis is a huge factor for the entire state.”

In the past year, the governor has put extra state troopers in St. Louis and the state attorney general has been working with U.S. Attorney Jeff Jenson in prosecuting violent offenders.

The federal-state approach in Kansas City was dubbed Operation LeGend for four-year-old LeGend Taliferro, who was fatally shot while he slept inside his home early on June 29.  Other cities like Memphis, Tennessee, Chicago, Albuquerque, Cleveland, Detroit, and Milwaukee have agreed to a similar partnership.

The U.S Department of Justice is dedicating agents from ATF, FBI, DEA, and U.S. Marshals Service to aid St. Louis. The Bureau of Justice Assistance will offer $1 million to support local law enforcement in shot spotter responses and violent crime investigations

After St. Louis Congressman Lacy Clay has been expressing his concern about letting federal agents into the city, U.S. Attorney Jensen insists that this task force is nothing like what happened in Portland, Oregon.

“What Operation LeGend is not, is protection of federal buildings, protection of federal properties. It’s not riot police, it’s not officers wearing fatigues. This is purely a violent crime effort, an effort to reduce the terrible murder rate we’ve seen lately, 53 murders in July in a city of 300,000.” Jensen said.

St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson confirmed that she welcomes the help because her city has “fewer police officers than we’ve had in 10 to 15 years.”

“This is all about our federal partners here working along with our St. Louis Police Department, side-by-side with our officers in a cooperative and collaborative way to stem violent crime,” she said at the Thursday press conference.

Missouri lawmakers have been meeting in a special session called by the governor to address the state’s surge in homicides and violent crimes. The Senate debated a bill today and the parties clashed over the idea of hiring police officers from outside of a city. St. Louis Democrats in the Senate don’t think the state should be deciding for them. Majority Floor Leader Caleb Rowden of Columbia says he wants more qualified boots on the ground no matter where they live.