KC among 7 of nation’s most violent cities getting new help from feds, AG Barr says
Kansas City, as one of the nation’s most violent cities, will get help cracking down on violent crime under a new initiative called Operation Relentless Pursuit, U.S. Attorney General William Barr announced Wednesday in Detroit.
The initiative is designed to combine federal, state and local resources where violent crime rates are higher than national averages, Barr said.
“To address the problem of violent crime levels in some of our major cities, we are deploying these resources under Relentless Pursuit to seven cities,” Barr said. The six other cities are Detroit, Memphis, Baltimore, Cleveland, Milwaukee and Albuquerque.
“Kansas City is one of the top five most dangerous cities with a murder rate nearly five times the national average,” Barr said.
The cities were chosen based on their level of violent crimes as well as state and local law enforcement that were effective and working well with federal joint task forces, he said.
The two-pronged attack will increase federal agents, analysts and equipment in those cities as well as bulking up federal task forces through collaborative efforts with local law enforcement partners.
The initiative will also commit up to $71 million in federal grant funding to be used to hire as many as 400 new officers, pay overtime and benefits, finance deputized task force officers and provide equipment and technology, Barr said.
This story was originally published December 18, 2019 at 3:30 PM.
