“Today I’m announcing a surge of federal law enforcement into American communities plagued by violent crime. We’ll work every single day to restore public safety,” President Trump stated in the East Room of the White House.
“In recent weeks there has been a radical movement to defund, dismantle and dissolve our police department,” Trump said Wednesday at a White House event, blaming the movement for “a shocking explosion of shootings, killings, murders and heinous crimes of violence.”
“This bloodshed must end,” he said. “This bloodshed will end.”
Trump later added, “The Department of Justice will provide more than $61 million in grants to hire hundreds of new police officers in cities that are the focus of Operation Legend. We will never defund the police.”
‘Operation Legend’ is a new anti-crime initiative named for four year old LeGend Taliferro of Kansas City, who was shot and killed on June 29.
Legend’s mother, Charron Powell was at the White House for the announcement of the initiative. Powell said of her son, “Children are supposed to be our future and our 4-year old son didn’t make it to kindergarten.”
Attorney General William Barr said Operation Legend would be “classic crime fighting” and different from the actions of federal officials policing protests across the country. “The principal danger to the lives of our inner-city communities is violent crime,” Barr said. “The leading cause of death for young black males is homicide. Each year approximately 7,500 black Americans are victims of homicide. Every one of those lives matter.”
The announcement of Operation Legend occurred while resistance has increased against the Department of Homeland Security’s campaign to stop the violence by protesters in cities across the country.