Memphis City Council Public Safety Committee Chairman Worth Morgan told FOX13, “If they have resources and expertise they can provide, that is helpful and doesn’t bog us down in bureaucracy and actually get the job done which is protect the citizens of Memphis”.
The Justice Department did not say how it chose the 12 cities, which are mostly in the eastern half of the country and include Buffalo, New York and Memphis, Tennessee.
Homicides were up slightly in 2016, compared to 2015, according to city police data.
Sessions said more communities could be announced for the partnership this year. Other jurisdictions could be targeted later for the program, called the National Public Safety Partnership.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions, left, and Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein at the Justice Department’s National Summit on Crime Reduction and Public Safety in Bethesda, Md., on Tuesday.
“We were asked a few months ago to share information about (the Kansas City No Violence Alliance), as well as any concerns about decreasing violence in our city”, Baker said in a written statement.
What form the federal assistance might take is still unclear.
Baltimore and Chicago, two large cities where violent crime is increasing, were notably not on the list. Shootings increased by 23 percent past year, compared to the average from 2011 through 2015, according to city police data.
There will apparently be as yet unspecified grant funding as well as part of this program to help the Buffalo Police and other law enforcement agencies.
“If it is just investing in policing.we can’t arrest our way out of what we’re dealing with”, Daniel said. Federal prosecutors in the U.S. Attorneys offices, the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration and officials who oversee federal law enforcement grants will coordinate assistance with the 12 cities named in a newly created public safety partnership.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a new Department of Justice initiative Tuesday morning aimed at reducing violent crime in cities across the country.
Tuesday’s event was the first time the Justice Department’s top two officials have appeared publicly since their high-profile hearings on Capitol Hill last week, in which they faced tough questioning on the Russian Federation investigation.