Feds try to reassure skeptical public
It won’t be like Portland, top prosecutor says
Federal agents coming to Milwaukee in several weeks will focus on violent crime, illegal gun cases and slowing the city’s rising homicide rate, the area’s top federal prosecutor said Friday.
“It’s not a response to protests or civil unrest. It’s not the federal operation that we saw in Portland,” Matthew D.
Krueger, U.S. attorney for Wisconsin’s Eastern District, said in an interview.
Krueger and other law enforcement partners sought to reassure skeptical politicians and members of the public after President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced the expansion of the Justice Department’s Operation Legend to five cities, including Milwaukee.
Many who have expressed concern and outrage over the plan see the effort as a political move by the Trump administration, coming as Milwaukee plans to host a mostly virtual Democratic
National Convention and as demonstrators here continue to protest police brutality and racism.
Those who spoke out, including Gov. Tony Evers, have referenced Portland, Oregon, where federal officers in unmarked vehicles have grabbed protesters off the street and teargassed crowds, prompting the state’s attorney general to file for a restraining order against federal officers.
In Portland, Customs and Border Patrol officers were deputized for the Federal Protective Service and assigned to protect federal property, including the courthouse.
Operation Legend does not involve those officers, Krueger said. Instead, it will bring more U.S. marshals and agents from the FBI, Drug Enforcement
Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to Milwaukee.
“These are trained investigators who aren’t patrolling streets or doing crowd control, but instead they’re working closely with state and local partners to solve crimes,” Krueger said.
Operation Legend is a rebranding and continuation of an existing initiative, Operation Relentless Pursuit, which was announced late last year by Attorney General William Barr in an effort to curb violent crime. A local announcement with Milwaukee officials took place in May.
“Despite the name change, the focus of this operation remains the same and we remain committed to our partnership,” Milwaukee Police Chief Alfonso Morales said in a video released Friday.
Morales acknowledged federal law enforcement had responded to other cities to address civil unrest, but stressed his department had not requested such help.
“We did not request, and respectfully decline, the deployment of federal agents to Milwaukee for those purposes,” he said.
Operation Legend will expand into Chicago and Albuquerque, New Mexico, and then continue into Cleveland, Detroit and Milwaukee over the next three weeks, according to the White House.
Milwaukee is one of many cities seeing a dramatic spike in homicides this year, a trend that first emerged in April.
The city has had 97 homicide victims so far this year, compared to 52 at the same time last year, a roughly 86% increase, according to police data.
“There are sons and daughters and mothers and fathers who are being killed in Milwaukee at unbelievable rates,” Krueger said. “This is a partnership to help solve those crimes and to focus on the guns that are illegally trafficked and causing some of these shootings.”
More than one-third of Milwaukee’s homicides have been linked to family or domestic violence. Krueger did not offer specifics for how the operation could be used for that kind of crime, but emphasized federal authorities will work closely with local officials and community partners on those kinds of issues.
Krueger declined to give details on the number of personnel or amount of money that will flow into Milwaukee as part of the effort, saying more information will be released later. The White House announcement this week indicated federal funding would be made available for local police departments to hire more officers.
In May, at the local announcement of what was then called Operation Relentless Pursuit, officials estimated the commitment at about $9.7 million would be used to hire 27 new Milwaukee police officers and pay for overtime, benefits and new equipment, according to a report from WUWM-FM (89.7).
Federal officials are still finalizing how they will measure the program’s success but Krueger already has identified one key indicator.
“I think the most important metric is the homicide rate or the number of lives that are taken,” he said.
But a punitive approach to curbing violence misses the mark and ignores a large movement across the country, as protesters demand more investment in strategies to address poverty, mass incarceration and system racism that all contribute to violence, argued Reggie Moore, director of Milwaukee’s Office of Violence Prevention.
“Where is the deployment of resources for violence prevention, affordable housing, mental health, employment and education?” Moore said. “This is exactly the wrong response to the moment we are in. At a time when cities around the country are calling for greater investment in prevention and social services, Trump does the opposite to stoke fear in the name of law and order.”
Much of the confusion about Operation Legend has stemmed from the way it was rolled out.
With images from Portland fresh in people’s minds, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows went on Fox News last weekend and suggested federal intervention on violent crime could be coming to Chicago and Milwaukee. He did not provide further details or explain this was a continuation of ongoing efforts.
In its announcement late Wednesday, the White House did not explain Operation Legend was a reformulation of an already-announced initiative, leaving Evers and Milwaukee officials in the dark.
“If the federal presence is to truly cooperate with local law enforcement, then it is imperative the limits of their activities are clearly delineated and monitored,” Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said Thursday.
Some Milwaukee Common Council members remained wary, especially as the DNC approaches.
“The new dynamic is the reality of what’s going on in Portland, the reality of what’s about to happen in Chicago and the reality about what’s threatening to happen in Milwaukee that may very well coincide with the time we have the DNC,” Ald. Milele Coggs said Friday at a city meeting.
Coggs was one of 12 Common Council members who signed a letter to Trump Friday urging him to reconsider and saying they “will use all legal means” if he does not.
Alds. Michael Murphy, Scott Spiker and Robert Bauman did not sign the letter.
U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, a Republican, pushed back on the concerns expressed this week by Democratic state and local officials.
“We should welcome additional federal resources, both dollars and law enforcement officers, to help reduce violent crime and drug trafficking. No one is talking about sending an occupying force,” Johnson said in a statement. “It is disappointing that some are suggesting this is anything other than an effort to combat crime.”
U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, a Democrat, said she appreciated Krueger’s assurances and added that “no one in Wisconsin” wants anything similar to what happened in Portland.
She blamed Barr and Trump for the confusion, saying they “really mishandled this by not taking the time to communicate directly with elected leaders and local law enforcement in Wisconsin.”