INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — United States Attorney General Merrick Garland was in Indianapolis Monday for a violent crime reduction summit.

Sponsored in part by the United States Department of Justice,  Garland told a convention center-sized room packed with law enforcement officers, prosecutors, and investigators from both federal and local agencies that violent crime is tearing the fabric of our democracy.   

“Violent crime is not just a threat to people’s physical safety, it is a threat to their ability to freely go about their daily lives. Violent crime isolates people in their communities. It deepens the fractures in our public life,” Garland said.  

The DOJ and other federal law enforcement agencies have partnered with local police to take on the problem. He cited that one of the bigger problems facing police is retention and recruitment. The DOJ is offering grants to hire 1,700 new cops nationwide and offered access to federal law enforcement resources, like crime gun databases.

“It is a driver of that not every drug dealer is a trigger puller and not every trigger puller is a drug dealer, so being able to focus on both is important, and you heard a little bit about some of the operations that we have taken down over the last couple of years the DEA just had a major investigation come down. The FBI with the dog fighting and narcotics and guns they are all related,” said IMPD Assistant Chief Chris Bailey.

The city of Indianapolis and the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, Zack Myers, announced a partnership in June to bring in three new prosecutors. The city is footing part of the payroll for these new prosecutors.

“So right now, we are in the background check process, so no one has gotten into the building yet. We also continue to recruit. We hope to have our first one starting early next year. We are super excited about it, and I think that is going to make a difference in the amount of crime we are about to hold accountable federally but also the partnerships that we have with our local law enforcement to get the best information about who these offenders are on the state and local side that are appropriate for state and local prosecution,” Myers said. 

Attorney General Garland said the rise in violent crime, specifically gun crimes, really started to peak in 2020. Detroit has seen a reduction in violent crime, and Detroit law enforcement is expected to share its crime reduction strategy.