ST. LOUIS — St. Louis is one of three cities the Department of Justice has identified as “most in need” of additional crime-fighting resources, so Attorney General Merrick Garland is planning to send in additional law enforcement resources to help.
Garland made the announcement Wednesday during an event in Chicago, stating the Justice Department is working to replicate the successes that communities across the country have seen in driving down violent crime that spiked during the pandemic, according to a DOJ press release.
St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones sent a statement to 5 On Your Side reacting to the news.
“Under my administration, homicides in our city have decreased by 40%,” Jones wrote. “We welcome this opportunity for St. Louis to work with the Attorney General’s office as we continue to build upon our progress in reducing violent crime and saving lives."
ATF Director Steven Dettelbach issued a statement about the initiative, which read: “With crime rates down in so many places in 2023, now is not the time to back off. Now is the time to double and triple down on strategies that have been shown to work. ATF’s expertise in Crime Gun Intelligence allows our agents—and our law enforcement partners—to follow the crime gun. This leads to more impactful arrests both of those who are actually doing the shooting and those unlawfully supplying the shooters with their guns. By combining this intelligence and data with traditional techniques, ATF produces evidence-driven cases on the most dangerous offenders. We are proud to work with all our partners on this important initiative in cities around the country.”
The effort is part of the DOJ’s Criminal Division’s Violent Crime Initiative (VCI). It launched in Houston, Texas, in September 2022, and expanded to Memphis, Tennessee, in November 2023. The VCI “surges law enforcement tools and resources to target gangs and other violent groups that are threatening the safety and security of communities in cities across the nation,” according to the press release.
In his remarks, Garland noted other cities have seen successes in driving down crime, including Detroit, where 2023 marked the fewest homicides in 57 years; Baltimore, where there was a 20% reduction in homicides in 2023 and a 7% reduction in non-fatal shootings; New Orleans, where 2023 marked a 25% decline in homicides; Philadelphia, where there was a 20% reduction in homicides in 2023; and Chicago, where homicides decreased by 13% in 2023.
“The Justice Department will not rest until every person, in every neighborhood, in every community is safe from violent crime,” Garland said. “The FBI reports that last year we saw a significant decrease in overall violent crime across the country compared to the previous year—including an over 13% decline in homicides.
“That is the largest one-year decline in homicides in 50 years. The Justice Department is not easing up on our efforts to reduce violent crime. In fact, today, we are doubling down. In Houston and Memphis, we launched a Violent Crime Initiative that brought prosecutors from the Department’s Criminal Division to work closely with prosecutors already on the ground to target those responsible for the greatest violence. Today, we are launching the next phase of our Violent Crime Initiative in St. Louis, Missouri; Jackson, Mississippi; and Hartford, Connecticut.”
FBI Director Christopher Wray said St. Louis can expect to see the FBI, “renewing our focus on violent crime” and “surging tools and resources to make our streets safer.”
“Every day, our field offices work to tear down violent criminals and gangs and this initiative will only serve to magnify their successes,” Wray wrote.
The VCI works with local U.S. attorneys and federal and state law enforcement agencies to use data to fight crime, according to Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.
“Through our Violent Crime Initiative, the Criminal Division works in partnership with local U.S. Attorneys and federal and state law enforcement to use data to focus on the worst of the worst violent offenders, to engage with the communities in which we work, and to make our neighborhoods safer,” Argentieri wrote. “As our work in Houston and Memphis has shown, together we can make a difference.”
In addition to St. Louis, Jackson, Mississippi and Hartford, Connecticut, have been announced as the next VCI cities. The VCI utilizes prosecutors from the Criminal Division’s Violent Crime and Racketeering Section—the nation’s foremost experts in racketeering prosecutions—to work alongside prosecutors from the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, as well as dedicated investigative agents, analysts, and forensic experts from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and other federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, according to the release.
“Since the start of Houston VCI, Houston saw reductions of 9% in violent crime and 20% in homicides. In Memphis, when compared to 2023, official counts of murders, robberies, and aggravated assaults have decreased since the VCI has been operational,” according to the release.
The VCI program will bring two additional prosecutors to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri.
“We have long had a focus in the Eastern District of Missouri on violent crime and complex criminal conspiracies, and the addition of two experienced prosecutors will allow us to expand that,” said U.S. Attorney Sayler A. Fleming. “We look forward to working with them to make the St. Louis region safer.”
DEA Administrator Anne Milgram wrote: “Drug-related crimes and violence continue to have a significant impact on our communities and demand a new approach. Two years ago, DEA implemented Operation Overdrive, a data-driven, intelligence led approach to identifying and dismantling criminal drug networks doing the most harm in communities, including in St. Louis, Missouri; Hartford, Connecticut; and Jackson, Mississippi. This approach allows us to map the threats and shift our resources so that our drug enforcement efforts will have the greatest impact in our communities. Expanding the Violent Crime Initiative further extends our potential to successfully investigate and prosecute criminals by harnessing the full potential of state, local, and federal partnerships.”
