Attorney General William Barr announced Wednesday that a Department of Justice anticrime initiative launched July 8 has led to 1,485 arrests across nine US “We are on the front lines to resist that.”, Indeed, U.S. Attorney General William Barr has frequently defended Operation Legend by noting that it is a continuation of federal policing efforts, rather than a radical departure from the norm. The fight came to a head in 2017, when a lawsuit against the city of Memphis revealed years of close surveillance of Black Lives Matter activists and union organizers. As long as I'm the United States Attorney, we will, in fact, aggressively, consistently, and unapologetically enforce that federal law against the worst of the worst criminals for harming our citizens and terrorizing our community. But in the month since Operation Legend was launched on July 8 — beginning in Kansas City, Mo., and subsequently expanding to seven other cities — mayors … Progress report out on Operation Legend federal crime fighting … Yet the Memphis law does not apply to federal law enforcement. Mr. Trump, joined at a White House event by Attorney General William Barr, unveiled an expansion of the “Operation Legend” program to include cities such … President Donald Trump and Attorney General William Barr are expected to announce Wednesday that federal agents will surge into several American cities including Chicago to help combat rising crime. 'Operation Legend': Trump Announces Federal Agents Will Be Sent … Memphis Councilwoman Michalyn Easter-Thomas feared that the operation, which deployed about 40 federal agents to the city, had "the potential to go well beyond its scope.". The Department of Defense’s 1033 program is perhaps the best-known example of federal investment in policing. Who would hold party elites accountable to the values they proclaim to have? Feds send agents into three US cities for 'Operation Legend' Many of the agents are on temporary assignment, working in collaboration with police; nearly half will relocate by November. In turn, the grants have created an industry of policing technology dependent on federal funding. We want justice for our son and others. But the Homeland Security and Justice departments also fund law enforcement to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars a year. It has also funded artificial intelligence-based data repositories, predictive analytics, and social media monitoring tools. Authorities say that as of August 31, Operation Legend has led to the arrests of more than 2,000 people -- with 476 of them charged with federal offenses -- in participating cities nationwide. These are “traditional crime-fighting activities” he told reporters in Detroit — just now “ratcheted-up.”. ", Barr has said the arrest in the Taliferro murder marked a "significant step forward" in the Kansas City investigation and "illustrates the potential of Operation Legend more broadly. On July 22, 2020, Attorney General William Barr announced that more than 200 people were arrested during the initial operation in Kansas City, stating "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". Trump May Use Federal Forces in U.S. … “ShotSpotter spends a lot of money,” was Mares’s answer. A breakdown of Trump's federal agent … “This is yet another surveillance technology that has the potential to victimize people based on their proximity to crime and overpolicing,” he said. In 2014, footage of military vehicles rolling down the streets of Ferguson drew national outcry, bringing scrutiny to the program. Background on Operation Legend. "His life mattered; his name should be remembered. Chicago, meanwhile, announced on August 14 that it would employ “enhanced” technology for “around-the-clock” monitoring of social media to identify looters. ", More: Federal agents, officers head to Detroit, Cleveland, Milwaukee as Operation Legend expands. Operation Legend officers are being dispatched from the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Attorney General William Barr said federal authorities going into cities as part of Operation Legend will be different than the type of federal officials policing protests in Portland. About half of those involve firearm offenses. In response, a company representative told The Intercept that the system’s placement is “not based on who’s living in the community. On August 12, the city of Detroit — another of the nine cities targeted by Operation Legend — also placed a $100,000 order with Cellebrite to acquire the company’s “premium” software package and, two weeks later, renewed an older Cellebrite license for another $22,000 — more than tripling 2018 and 2019 expenditures. A study published this year on ShotSpotter in St. Louis found that the system, whose microphones detect and alert police to gunshots, had no impact on violent crime whatsoever: “The results were, essentially, it doesn’t work,” said Dennis Mare, a professor at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville who co-authored the study, though he admitted that it is difficult to extrapolate the results to all cities. More: Acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf: Federal officers in Portland 'are not the Gestapo, storm troopers or thugs'. “And, ultimately, a lot of it gets used to monitor protests.”, Katya Schwenk[email protected]protonmail.com@ktyschwnk. Through Operation Legend, Memphis and four other cities received grants for gunshot detection technology, which lines cities with sensors to … Operation Legend and its December precursor, Operation Relentless Pursuit, are both funding surveillance technology in cities across the country. The Intercept is a First Look Media Company. Operation Legend is a sustained, systematic and coordinated law enforcement initiative in which federal law enforcement agencies work in conjunction with state and local law enforcement officials to fight violent crime. The press secretary is angry CNN misidentified the man posing as a reporter in the briefing room who cheered for her. Even as violent crime has surged in several U.S. cities, local leaders have expressed concern for the recent federal deployments after federal officers engaged in high profile clashes with protesters in Portland, Oregon, and Washington, D.C., in demonstrations against police brutality following the May 25 death of George Floyd. on about your day, ask yourself: How likely is it that the story you just read would have been produced by a different news outlet if The Intercept hadn’t done it? (Aug. 19), arrest of a suspect in the slaying of LeGend Taliferro, Federal agents, officers head to Detroit, Cleveland, Milwaukee as Operation Legend expands, Acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf: Federal officers in Portland 'are not the Gestapo, storm troopers or thugs', Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. Though Mayor Lori Lightfoot at first assumed a hostile attitude toward the initiative, in August she also announced a new task force on looting in partnership with the FBI. Why, then, is St. Louis still receiving federal grants to expand the technology? The local concern brought a sharp rebuke from Michael Dunavant, the chief federal prosecutor in Memphis. Operation Legend's federal charges by the numbers | Fox News Attorney General William Barr talks to the media during a news conference about Operation Legend, a federal task force formed to fight violent crime in several cities, on Aug. 19, 2020, in Kansas City, Mo. Memphis is a prime example: Over the last decade, the city’s license plate reader system, its “real-time crime center” — which houses a “video wall” of live surveillance camera feeds — and its gunshot recognition cameras were all funded, at least in part, through Byrne JAG grants. The DOJ’s Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program, which emerged in the post-9/11 era of rapidly inflated federal spending on policing, is one of the major grant programs for police and has been criticized for, in effect, funding mass imprisonment. That legislation remains stalled in the House, but for ShotSpotter, Operation Legend proved a windfall. In Memphis, organizers have long battled police surveillance. The company points to other investigative benefits overlooked by the study. The federal forces in Portland and D.C. included large contingents of immigration enforcement authorities drawn from the Department of Homeland Security. The arrest statistics reflect operations in all cities, with the exception of Indianapolis, which was only added to federal effort days ago. “That’s the harsh truth. And then they have access to federal courts.”, For Joia Thornton, an organizer with Decarcerate Memphis, a group that formed in response to Operation Relentless Pursuit, the initiatives form part of a longer legacy of federal support for policing. Taliferro was killed while he was sleeping in his bed. Other more opaque grants from the Justice Department, like a $1.4 million grant to Shelby County, which surrounds Memphis, in April and a $1 million grant in July to the city of Cleveland, are to be used in part for “technological solutions” or “support” for investigations. Some were already on the ground by the time U.S. Attorney Michael Dunavant announced the onset of Operation Legend and the city became, along with St. Louis, the seventh to be targeted by the Justice Department’s heavy-handed initiative to reduce violent crime. The Intercept is an independent nonprofit news outlet. “We believe this mirrors the three-strikes laws, the war on drugs — all of these types of tactics to drive up mass incarceration,” she told The Intercept. ", Contributing: Kristine Phillips and Samuel Hardiman, Barr: Federal task force made almost 1,500 arrests, Attorney General William Barr says federal officers working alongside local police in the initiative known as "Operation Legend" have helped make nearly 1,500 arrests, including dozens for homicides and other violent crimes. The estimated $65,000 contract would double previous annual spending on the technology, per city procurement records. Ultimately, a lot of it gets used to monitor protests.”. Technologies popular with federal agencies tend to make their way down to the local level. The Operation was first launched on July 8 in Kansas City, Missouri, and … What is Operation Legend? The Bureau of Justice Assistance, which has offered generous grants to Memphis, Detroit, and other cities through Operation Legend this summer, has previously funded Cellebrite products for police departments in Florida, Maryland, Kansas, and Idaho. We have to take a stand in our communities and speak up to help this operation be successful. In Memphis, a unique consent decree from 1978 prohibits law enforcement from engaging in “political intelligence” — collecting information on individuals for political purposes. Awash in these federal funds, cities have doubled down on their surveillance investments, even as they face general budget shortfalls in the tens of millions. Five cities — Memphis, Cleveland, Albuquerque, Milwaukee, and Detroit — will receive grants to purchase or expand their gunshot detection through the program. ShotSpotter does, however, increase police presence in the neighborhoods where it is used — “disproportionately in minority neighborhoods,” according to Mares. Take, for example, the new popularity of phone-hacking technology with police: The technology was first picked up more than a decade ago by federal agencies like Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the FBI. Just the presence of federal agents can undermine longstanding efforts for accountability on police surveillance. Since its inception, Operation Legend has yielded more than 3,500 local, state, and federal arrests, with more than 800 defendants charged with federal crimes. As recently as Tuesday, officials in Memphis, one of the nine cities included in the operation, expressed their disapproval for the increased federal presence. "Federal law still applies here on the streets of Memphis. The Justice Department announced Thursday that there have so far been "more than 2,000 arrests" across nine It is to help investigate unsolved murders, in which one of those happens to be our innocent, 4-year-old son. “Much of this equipment and technology is given under the guise of either narcotics, policing, or counterterrorism. His murder is still unsolved. “And when you start feeding one surveillance technology after another into a database, you give police departments the ability to track what people are doing very closely.”. How many covert wars, miscarriages of justice, and dystopian technologies would remain hidden if our reporters weren’t on the beat? The suit was successful, and in 2018, a federal judge ordered an independent monitor to oversee policing in the city. “This Task Force is already reviewing video camera footage and other evidence to identify perpetrators and develop strong cases against them,” she wrote. Yet there is little evidence that ShotSpotter reduces gun crime. "With all due respect to the council, no one's permission is necessary for us to surge these federal resources into Memphis," Dunavant told the council. Last week, Kansas City, Missouri, authorities announced the arrest of a suspect in the slaying of LeGend Taliferro, a 4-year-old boy for whom the effort was named, after about 200 federal agents had been dispatched to the city. The decree only covers the city,” explained Tom Castelli, legal director for the ACLU of Tennessee, though per the decree, the city cannot collaborate on unlawful surveillance with outside agencies. Make no mistake, Joe Biden is a Washington creature with a multidecade record of support for wars and militarism. We don’t have ads, so we depend on our members — 35,000 and counting — to help us hold the powerful to account. FBI Agents and Resources Support Operation Legend in Nine … Barr's announcement comes more than a month after the Trump administration launched the enforcement effort, known as Operation Legend. "Operation Legend is the heart of the federal government’s response to this uptick in violent crime," Barr said Wednesday. Photo: Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images. “We knew we were being watched and monitored and surveilled,” said Hunter Demster, an activist who was tracked on social media by MPD. In August, 40 federal agents arrived in Memphis. Operation LeGend: Trump Is Sending Feds to More Cities | Teen … operation, legend, crime, … Through Operation Legend, Memphis and four other cities received grants for gunshot detection technology, despite longstanding concerns about its efficacy. Years of federal investment in surveillance have resulted in what Faiza Patel, co-director of the Brennan Center’s Liberty and National Security Program, calls a “layering” effect: “These things don’t come all at once. Its grants also fund sophisticated policing technology. Through Operation Legend, Memphis and four other cities received grants for gunshot detection technology, which lines cities with sensors to detect gunfire, despite longstanding concerns about its efficacy. Starting in Kansas City, Barr has dispatched dozens of officers to Chicago, Albuquerque, New Mexico, Detroit, Cleveland and Milwaukee, St. Louis, Memphis and Indianapolis. Attorney General Announces Nationwide “Operation Legend” to … Operation LeGend also has been expanded to Chicago and Albuquerque. ", "Operation Legend is not to harass," said Charron Powell, the mother of the young Kansas City victim, at a White House event last month to call attention to the effort. Biden Is the Perfect Figurehead for the Post-Trump National Security Establishment, Someone Has Been Telling Lies in the White House Briefing Room, Kayleigh McEnany Says, New DCCC Chair Promises to End Controversial Blacklist Policy, assumed a hostile attitude toward the initiative. 1033 continues provide bayonets, grenade launchers, and other leftovers from U.S. wars overseas to police precincts across the country. Police watch while people gather for a labor march on the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. April 4, 2018 in Memphis. Still, Memphis Police Director Michael Rallings has alluded to partnering with the FBI to get around some of the decree’s restrictions, later confirming through a city spokesperson that he “told [federal officials] that we are restricted by the consent decree and depend on them to catch threats articulated on social media.”, As U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana Josh Minkler said, as he announced Operation Legend’s expansion to Indianapolis, federal agencies contribute “not just manpower, but technology that can help identify and arrest the individuals. Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney is not a significant departure from Rep. Cheri Bustos, but wants to end the ban on vendors who work on primary challenges. "For us, LeGend is a symbol of the many hundreds of innocent lives that have been taken in the recent upsurge of crime in many of our cities this summer," Barr said at briefing in Kansas City. “If you live in a neighborhood that has a gun violence problem, not only are you subjected to that, you are also subjected to the surveillance regime that comes along with it.”. Marshals Service and the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives. Barr has maintained that the additional officers are only assisting in combating local violence and will not take part in crowd control duties that have drawn federal agents into clashes with street protesters. "Its mission is to save lives, solve crimes, and take violent offenders off our streets before they can claim more victims. Operation Legend started in Kansas City, Missouri and is named after four-year-old LeGend Taliferro. That’s all it takes to support the journalism you rely on. They build up,” she said. Now, a growing number of cities and state law enforcement have access to some kind of mobile data extraction software. Milwaukee already has a ShotSpotter system in place, and Detroit now plans to deploy it again, after piloting the technology in 2014. Suspects in 90 homicides have been arrested under Operation Legend, the Trump administration deployment of federal officers to nine U.S. cities so far Operation Legend Is Bringing Surveillance Tech to CitiesUsing federal grants, cities are contracting with companies that hack smartphones and detect gunshots.By Katya SchwenkSep 13 2020https://theinte As cries to “defund the police” resound in the streets and cities fly surveillance planes low over demonstrations, Operation Legend is the latest reminder of the magnitude, and consequence, of federal police spending. ShotSpotter, the largest gunshot detection provider in the country and a major beneficiary of Operation Legend, illustrates this well. 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