<p>Attorney General William Barr announced Wednesday that Operation Legend &#8212; a Department of Justice program designed to supplement major city police departments with federal agents and resources amid an unprecedented national crime wave &#8212; has cut the Chicago murder rate &#8220;roughly in half&#8221; since launch and has &#8220;reversed&#8221; a surge of violence that was leaving dozens killed.</p>
<p>Barr told reporters, at a press conference held in Chicago, that Operation Legend has led to 500 individual arrests and has charged 124 people who federal crimes, <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/us/chicago-murder-rate-cut-roughly-in-half-since-before-operation-legend-barr">according to Fox News</a>. Those charges range from firearms and narcotics trafficking to bank fraud.</p>
<p>&#8220;Throughout the country, more than 2500 people have been arrested and more than 600 are facing federal charges as part of the operation, an ongoing government effort to combat surging crime in parts of the country,&#8221; the outlet continued, citing official numbers announced Wednesday.</p>
<p>Operation Legend launched in Chicago in early July, after the city experienced a shocking spike in shootings and homicides following the release of coronavirus-related lockdowns. Gang violence on the city&#8217;s south and west sides also spiked, leaving a number of minors &#8212; including several children five years of age and younger &#8212; dead or severely injured.</p>
<p>The program, which now operates in more than a dozen cities, pairs agents and resources from the FBI, U.S. Marshals, ATF, and DEA with major city police department investigators to help handle organized crime and, specifically, widespread gun violence and illegal weapons and narcotics trafficking.</p>
<p>In Chicago alone, 400 federal agents are assigned to the Operation Legend task force, though around 200 of those agents were already working in the city prior to the program&#8217;s launch. The city also received around $9 million in federal funds to boost community-oriented policing projects and around $3.5 million to support anti-crime operations already in existence, <a href="https://patch.com/illinois/chicago/attorney-general-william-barr-speaks-chicago-wednesday">per local media</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;The results of those actions speak for themselves: over the first five weeks of Operation Legend in Chicago, murders dropped by 50% over the previous five weeks. August ultimately saw a 45% decrease in murders compared to July, and a 35% decrease compared to June,&#8221; Barr noted.</p>
<p>The Justice Department&#8217;s Twitter account noted the statistic in a bar graph:</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Attorney General William P. Barr Announces Updates on <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/OperationLegend?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#OperationLegend</a> at Press Conference in Chicago<a href="https://t.co/qmEbxha8iI">https://t.co/qmEbxha8iI</a> <a href="https://t.co/ksKi3YA6EY">pic.twitter.com/ksKi3YA6EY</a></p>
<p>&mdash; U.S. Department of Justice (@TheJusticeDept) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheJusticeDept/status/1303711840086654976?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 9, 2020</a></p></blockquote>
<p>Gun violence in Chicago is still a major problem. Despite Operation Legend&#8217;s achievements, the city&#8217;s August murder rate was the highest since 2016 and is only lower in comparison to June&#8217;s and July&#8217;s murder rates, which set city records. So far this summer, between Memorial Day and Labor Day, Chicago has seen 342 people killed in gun violence and 1,607 wounded. That&#8217;s up significantly from 2019 when 172 people were killed over the summer and 890 wounded.</p>
<p>Chicago&#8217;s Mayor Lori Lightfoot initially declined President Donald Trump&#8217;s offer of federal assistance in handling the city&#8217;s crime spike but later agreed to help on the condition that it did not look like federal intervention in Portland, Oregon, where the Department of Justice sent an elite, militarized unit from Customs and Border Protection to guard federal property against rioters.</p>

<script async src="https://www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<script async src="https://www.tiktok.com/embed.js"></script><div data-widget-host="revcontent" data-pub-id="165152" data-widget-id="290588"></div><script src="https://delivery.revcontent.com/165152/290588/widget.js"></script>

AG Barr: Operation Legend Cut Chicago Murder Rate ‘Roughly In Half’ ‘Reversed’ Surge In Violence

CONTINUE READING

A Radical Abortion Push Threatens Pro-Life Progress — And Women Could Pay The Price

Andrew Cuomo Charged With ‘Sex Crime’ In Albany, New York

Illinois Will Soon Allow Minors To Seek An Abortion Without Parental Consent

Do-Over? Biden Debuts Modified Now-$1.75 Trillion Spending Plan Following Dem Fracture

Dems Explode At Each Other Over Infrastructure Stalemate: ‘It’s The Effing Progressives!’

NYC Could Lose Thirty Percent Of Its Police Force, Fire Department Over Vaccine Mandate

News and Commentary

Chicago

Lori Lightfoot

William Barr

A video goes viral showing a baby being refused his mother by two gay "dads". This is just the tip of the iceberg, which is why we will have an important discussion today about surrogacy. 

Hour 1

The Matt Walsh Show

Ep. 1765 - This Video Is One Of The Worst Things I've Seen In A Long Time 

The Strait of Hormuz officially opens for business (kind of), the Pope makes “shocking” comments on immigration, and President Trump promises UFO disclosure at TPUSA. 


The Michael Knowles Show

Ep. 1956 -  Pope Leo's "SHOCKING" Immigration Comments EXPLAINED

A false miscreed has corrupted our leadership class.


The Andrew Klavan Show

Ep. 1275 - Dumb, Dumber and Progressive

President Trump announces a 10-day ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel, a murder-suicide involving former Democratic Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax shakes Virginia, and France and Britain hold a conference to secure the Strait of Hormuz – after the Iranian conflict ends. Get the facts first with Morning Wire.

- - -

Ep. 2738

- - -

Wake up with new Morning Wire merch: https://bit.ly/4lIubt3

- - -

Today's Sponsors:

Alliance Defending Freedom - Visit https://JoinADF.com/WIRE or text 'WIRE' to 83848 to learn more.

Pocket Hose - Text MORNING to 64000 to get a FREE pocket pivot and their 10-pattern sprayer with the purchase of ANY size Copper Head hose. Message and data rates may apply.

Morning Wire

U.S. Expands Hormuz Blockade & VA Fairfax Deaths Investigated | 4.17.26

U.S. Expands Hormuz Blockade & VA Fairfax Deaths Investigated | 4.17.26 [Member Exclusive]

A ceasefire goes into effect between Israel and Lebanon, a tragic murder-suicide rocks Virginia, and Dairy Queen deploys AI in the drive-thru. Get the facts first with Evening Wire.
- - -
Ep. 2737
- - -
Wake up with new Morning Wire merch: https://bit.ly/4lIubt3 
- - -
Today’s Sponsor:

Alliance Defending Freedom - Visit https://JoinADF.com/WIRE or text “WIRE” to 83848 to learn more.


Evening Wire: Lebanon Ceasefire Begins & Murder-Suicide Rocks VA | 4.16.26

The Pendragon Cycle

Menu

— News and Commentary —

AG Barr: Operation Legend Cut Chicago Murder Rate ‘Roughly In Half’ ‘Reversed’ Surge In Violence