Bill Barr Celebrates New DOJ 'Surge' Targeting Violent Crime By Touting 199 Arrests That Occurred Pre-Surge

from the who-needs-accuracy-when-you-have-a-megaphone dept

Earlier this month, the DOJ announced the launch of "Operation Legend." The operation -- named after four-year-old homicide victim LeGend Taliferro -- targeted cities experiencing spikes in violent crimes, including Kansas City, Missouri, where Taliferro was killed.

Cities may not have been asking for federal interference in their law enforcement efforts, but "help" was on the way, nonetheless.

“President Trump has made clear: the federal government stands ready and willing to assist any of our state and local law enforcement partners across the nation responding to violent crime. Operation Legend will combine federal and local resources to combat the disturbing uptick in violence by surging federal agents and other federal assets into cities like Kansas City, a city currently experiencing its worst homicide rate in its history,” said Attorney General Barr.

The first recipient of the "surge" was Kansas City. And the operation has been more successful than anyone could have imagined.

Attorney General William Barr said Wednesday that 200 arrests had been made in a new federal operation launched in Kansas City.

“Just to give you an idea of what’s possible, the FBI went in very strong into Kansas City and within two weeks we’ve had 200 arrests,” Barr said of the operation, which is sending more than 200 federal agents into the metro area.

Truly remarkable numbers. According to the DOJ, 225 federal agents from the FBI, DEA, ATF, and US Marshals Service had been added to the mix in Kansas City. In just four days, the feds are well on the way to ending violent crime in the city. And they weren't even stepping on local toes to do it:

“These agents won’t be patrolling the streets,” [US Attorney Tim Garrison] said. “They won’t replace or usurp the authority of local officers.”

So, how were the feds racking up 50 federal arrests per day? The answer is: they weren't. In fact, Operation Legend has only resulted in one arrest in four days. A DOJ official cleared up Barr's self-congratulatory statement after no one could find any evidence these 200 arrests had taken place.

The official said Barr was referring to the number of arrests made in the city since the launch of Operation Relentless Pursuit, a precursor effort to Operation Legend that surged federal agents in U.S. cities facing crime waves, including Kansas City.

“We have made since December 2019 200 arrests in Kansas City,” the senior official said, referring to the launch of that initial operation. “Legend is essentially a continuation of that.”

Ah. "Essentially a continuation." I see. Whatever it takes to make sure the top man doesn't sound like a fuck up.

But all schadenfreude aside, there's a problem here. The DOJ's new task forces -- blends of federal officers and agents inserted into cities to make street-level busts -- just isn't a good idea.

The DOJ's response to ongoing protests has been, for the most part, horrifying. It's been officers in camo -- looking for all the world like a branch of the military -- rolling out of unmarked vehicles to grab citizens and haul them away to unknown destinations for questioning. And this scary shit is being deployed for the limited purpose of protecting federal property. Like courthouses. And… um… statues.

This surge may be targeting criminal activity occurring nowhere near the sites of ongoing protests, but that won't make the disappearing of suspects any more acceptable if these agencies continue to operate from unmarked vehicles and roll up on citizens wearing fatigues that don't make it clear who they are or what agency they represent. Even separated from the First Amendment context of the protests, tactics like these aren't what we want from our federal government. Suspected criminals still have rights and a "surge" of officers who appear to feel those are privileges is only going to make the current antipathy towards law enforcement even worse.

Filed Under: dhs, doj, donald trump, kansas city, liar, lies, operation legend, william barr