KC homicide rate declining; Operation Legend continues

Although the Kansas City metro is experiencing one of its deadliest years yet in violent crime, the homicide rate has shown a great decline since the start of Operation LeGend and with the help of resources provided through the federal effort.

Kansas City police Chief Rick Smith says Kansas City’s homicide rate has gone down since Operation Legend began.

Before federal agents came to Kansas City, the metro was averaging 5.5 homicides every week. During Operation Legend, that dropped to 4.3.

A total of 518 arrests were made in the 60-day span federal agents were in Kansas City. In the three weeks since agents left , the average has dropped to two a week.

Nationally, more than 1,500 people have been arrested on state and federal criminal charges in the last three months as part of a Drug Enforcement Administration project focusing on violent crime.

Since the operation launched in August, 1,521 people have been arrested in both state and federal cases in cities across the U.S. — including nearly 40 federal fugitives — and 2,135 firearms have been seized, acting DEA Administrator Tim Shea said in an interview with the Associated Press.

The federal government’s resources provide value for local law enforcement officials and agents can use specific government databases and share intelligence to link street-level dealers to larger networks and cartels, Shea said. He said the agents being assigned to the cases also bring “sophisticated organizational investigations,” targeting the leaders of drug-trafficking organizations.