Several federal law enforcement agencies have begun sending or ramping up to send agents to Chicago to assist local police there in fighting violence. The announcement to send agents to the Windy City comes after a record number of violent crimes were reported over the July 4th holiday weekend.
Over those three days at the beginning of the month, more than a dozen people were killed with nearly one hundred more injured. According to officials, after already having posted agents there to assist even before the holiday, the US Bureau of Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives sent seven additional agents to work there in an effort to better “combat some of the gun violence”.
The FBI has also been in talks with Chicago city officials about how its agents can lend a helping hand in curbing the level of gun violence perpetrated largely by the city’s overwhelming number of street gangs. The city’s gang problem is considered the primary reason that Chicago had the highest number of reported homicides in the United States in 2013.
There are already more than 100 agents that are currently stationed in Chicago and the US Department of Justice issued a press release this week declaring that the agency is committing an additional 20 agents to work in the city on a temporary basis.
US Attorney General Eric Holder recently participated in a round-table discussion regarding youth violence in America attended by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel during which the General praised the recent influx of federal law enforcement agents into the city.
He stated that the Department of Justice will do everything in its power to assist the city of Chicago in its fight against gun violence and that the ongoing addition of agents there represent the federal government’s commitment to making it a safer and less violent metropolis.