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Press Release
SAN FRANCISCO –The U.S. Department of Justice today launched five cross-jurisdictional strike forces to help reduce gun violence by disrupting illegal firearms trafficking in key regions across the country. Leveraging existing resources, the regional strike forces will better ensure sustained and focused coordination across jurisdictions and help stem the supply of illegally trafficked firearms from source cities, through other communities, and into five key market regions: New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area/Sacramento Region and Washington, D.C.
Each strike force region will be led by designated United States Attorneys, who will collaborate with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) and with state and local law enforcement partners within their own jurisdiction where firearms are used in crimes as well as with law enforcement partners in areas where illegally trafficked guns originate. Officials will use the latest data, evidence, and intelligence from crime scenes to identify patterns, leads, and potential suspects in violent gun crimes.
“All too often, guns found at crime scenes come from hundreds or even thousands of miles away. We are redoubling our efforts as ATF works with law enforcement to track the movement of illegal firearms used in violent crimes. These strike forces enable sustained coordination across multiple jurisdictions to help disrupt the worst gun trafficking corridors,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “The Department of Justice will use all of its tools – enforcement, prevention, intervention, and investment – to help ensure the safety of our communities – the department’s highest priority.”
According to gun trace data, a significant number of firearms recovered in the San Francisco Bay Area and the greater Sacramento region originate outside of California and are illegally trafficked into the state. The new San Francisco Bay Area/Sacramento Region Strike Force is jointly helmed by the United States Attorney’s Offices of the Northern and Eastern Districts of California, led by Acting United States Attorneys Stephanie M. Hinds in San Francisco and Phillip A. Talbert in Sacramento, respectively. The ATF San Francisco Field Office, led by Special Agent in Charge Patrick T. Gorman, will support and be integral to the strike force. The strike force will help ensure sustained and focused coordination between law enforcement and prosecutors in San Francisco Bay Area and the Sacramento region with their counterparts in locations where many of the firearms originate.
“Firearms illegally imported into California commonly contribute to violence in crimes committed on the streets of our communities,” said Acting United States Attorney Stephanie M. Hinds for the Northern District of California. “Enhancing our focus on tracing and tracking the source of these illegally trafficked firearms will help stem their flow and assist in combatting violent crime. Our strike force, which I am honored to co-chair with Acting United States Attorney Phillip A. Talbert from the Eastern District of California, and with the critical support of ATF San Francisco Field Office Special Agent in Charge Patrick T. Gorman, is a strong step in the right direction. Because many of the firearm source locations for our Bay Area and Sacramento regions overlap with the source locations for firearms recovered in Southern California, our strike force will work closely with the Los Angeles Strike Force.”
The strike forces represent one important, concrete step in implementing the Department’s Comprehensive Violent Crime Reduction Strategy, which was announced on May 26, 2021. The comprehensive strategy supports local communities in preventing, investigating, and prosecuting gun violence and other violent crime—and requires U.S. Attorneys’ offices to work with federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement, as well as the communities they serve, to address the most significant drivers of violence in their districts. In guidance to federal agents and prosecutors as part of that comprehensive strategy, the Deputy Attorney General made clear that firearms traffickers providing weapons to violent offenders are an enforcement priority across the country.
Department of Justice Efforts to Address Violent Crime
Since April 2021, the Department has taken the following steps to reduce and prevent violent crime, especially the gun crime that is often at the core of the problem: