The Department of Justice and law enforcement officials held a press conference on Tuesday morning regarding violent crime in Dallas.
Those in attendance were:
Ryan Raybould, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas
Brian Garner, Special Agent in Charge of ATF Dallas
Joseph Tucker, Special Agent in Charge of DEA Dallas
Jeremy Wright, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of FBI Dallas
Travis Pickard, Special Agent in Charge of HSI Dallas
Daniel Comeaux, Chief of Police, Dallas Police Department
Christopher Altemus, Special Agent in Charge of IRS-CI Dallas
Major Eric Wilson, Texas DPS North Texas CID
Ryan Raybould, the chief federal law enforcement officer overseeing 100 counties in Northern Texas, announced Project Safe Neighborhood, PSN, has now expanded to Northwest Dallas.
The federal initiative has been in place for 20 years and uses local data to pinpoint areas with significant crime rates, according to Raybould.
Northwest Dallas has been identified as an area of interest.
“Part of Northwest Dallas has become a corridor for organized criminal activity,” said Raybould. “We’ve seen networks that exploit people, harm victims, traffic narcotics, and illegally move firearms.”
According to Raybould, PSN combines and leverages federal, state and local law enforcement, prosecutors and community leaders to identify the most pressing crime problems in a community, and “it pairs law enforcement efforts with both prevention and community engagement.”
The Department of Justice and law enforcement officials held a press conference on Tuesday morning regarding violent crime in Dallas.
The only other area in DFW with Project Safe Neighborhood has been Northeast Dallas, where authorities say it has helped decrease violent crime.
“PSN recognizes that enforcement alone is not enough; community trust is paramount,” said Brian Garner, ATF Dallas’ Special Agent in Charge. “The best source of information is the community at large, letting us know what’s going on what areas we need to be focusing on.”
As federal policing operations face scrutiny nationwide, NBC 5 asked what kind of presence residents in this area can expect to see and why they should trust that federal agents will cooperate with police.
“I think we’re going to have to show results, we’re going to have to earn that,” replied Reybould. “We have partners who I trust.”
Homeland Security Investigations unit is a partner agency, confirms Raybould.
Specifics on increased federal presence or enforcements is not being shared, but private community meetings will be held in the coming weeks.
“This is not about flooding an area with people or anything like that, it’s about precision, focusing resources on a small number of individuals who choose to use firearms to commit violence against the community every day,” said Garner.