The Dept of Justice announced on Wednesday that Hartford is one of three additional cities being added to its Criminal Division Violent Crime Initiative, building on the successful model launched in Houston, Texas, in September 2022, and expanded to Memphis, Tennessee, in November 2023.
The Violent Crime Initiative 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.
Attorney General Merrick Garland noted in his remarks Wednesday that the announcement comes as the Justice Department is working to replicate the successes that communities across the country have seen in driving down the violent crime that spiked during the pandemic.
That includes cities like 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,” Attorney General Garland said in a release. “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.”
“No matter where violent crime occurs, it leaves a devastating impact on victims and communities,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray in the release. “The FBI, as part of the Violent Crime Initiative, is renewing our focus on violent crime in three additional cities 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.”
To focus the Justice Department’s resources on communities most in need, the Criminal Division has identified St. Louis, Missouri; Jackson, Mississippi; and Hartford, Connecticut, as the next Violent Crime Initiative cities.
The Violent Crime Initiative 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. Through the Violent Crime Initiative, the Criminal Division also works with community leaders in each city to best understand citizens’ concerns and to work to support them. Since the start of the Houston Violent Crime Initiative, that city 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 Violent Crime Initiative has been operational.
“This office and our federal law enforcement partners have a long and successful history of working with the Hartford Police Department and our state counterparts to make our capital city safer,” said U.S. Attorney Vanessa Roberts Avery for the District of Connecticut. “We welcome these additional Justice Department resources, which supplement our efforts to focus on the groups and individuals in Hartford that are chiefly responsible for Hartford’s gun violence and prosecute offenders to the full extent of federal law.”
“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,” said ATF Director Steven Dettelbach. “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.”
“Drug-related crimes and violence continue to have a significant impact on our communities and demand a new approach,” said DEA Administrator Anne Milgram. “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.”