A new task force focused on reducing gun crimes is forming in Memphis, acting U.S. Attorney General Matthew Whitaker announced Wednesday.
The Crime Gun Strike Force will be headed by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and comprised of “highly experienced” ATF agents and officers from the Memphis Police Department (MPD), Whitaker said.
Working with the Shelby County District Attorney General’s Office and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Tennessee, the task force will allow for an increased focus on investigations involving those actively involved in gun violence, the “trigger pullers, and the gun-traffickers that supply them,” Whitaker said.
Whitaker said the perpetrators will be “identified, investigated, and prosecuted.”
Forty percent of the state’s homicides happen in Memphis, Whitaker said. The murder, assault, and robbery rates here were each five times the national average last year.
“Here in Memphis a great deal of concern about those violent crime rates are gun crimes,” Whitaker said.
Whitaker said in 2018 there’s been a “dramatic increase” — six percent — in thefts from gun stores.
“That means more guns are on the streets and more illegal guns for criminals,” Whitaker said. “And that usually means for shootings and more armed robberies.”
Gun crimes in Memphis were down 17 percent during the first nine months of this year. Whitaker said that should be celebrated, “but I’m here to say we’re just getting started.”
Whitaker said in the future the goal is to add more ATF agents, as well as other law enforcement partners to the task force. For now, the task force will be housed at ATF’s Memphis office, but eventually will be moved into its own dedicated space.
Officials said more details about the task force will be released next week.
