More FBI agents dispatched to Louisville in crackdown on gangs, violence

More FBI agents are being sent to Louisville, Ky., to assist police in tackling gangs and violent criminals.

The additional law enforcement is a part of a larger initiative between the Louisville Metro Police Department and the FBI called the Safe Streets Task Force aimed at going after violent crime, NBC News reported on Tuesday. 

It was not immediately clear how many agents would be dispatched or when.

“Our hope is that these additional resources will help identify, apprehend, and ultimately convict individuals involved in violent crime around Louisville. Our focus will be on federal violations — such as carjackings, Hobbs Act robberies, and gun related charges,” Tim Beam of the FBI’s Louisville office told The Hill in a Wednesday email.

The Safe Streets Task Force initiative has allegedly already netted some results. Agents were able to recover around 1,200 grams of illegal controlled substances and 17 firearms in a drug bust last week, the Justice Department said in a press release. Four men were indicted on federal firearms and drugs charges.

Still, the city has seen an uptick in violent crime. As of Aug. 15, the city had reported 125 homicides this year — the majority of which have been unsolved so far, NBC News reported. Between January and April, violent crimes had increased 34 percent as compared to January through April 2020.

“We recognize that we are not having that impact that we would like to have,” FBI Louisville’s assistant special agent in charge Brian Jones told WAVE-3. “The numbers are still rising. We are doubling down on our efforts.”

—Updated at 12:49 p.m.