On June 14, Attorney General Merrick Garland and Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, along with DOJ law enforcement heads from DEA, FBI, ATF and the USMS, met with all 93 U.S. Attorneys to discuss the DOJ’s summer anti-violent crime strategy. The meeting followed up the Department-wide strategy launched two years ago to leverage federal resources, including grant programs and federal law enforcement, with state and local partners to combat violent crime.

In his remarks, the Attorney General announced the upcoming launch of the third phase of the U.S. Marshals Operation North Star aimed at locating and arresting fugitives charged with the highest levels of violence. Additionally, he announced that the DEA will be launching the third phase of Operation Overdrive. The first two phases resulted in the seizure of over 13 million deadly doses of fentanyl and 1300 illegal guns as well as over 1700 arrests. The AG also described efforts by the ATF to use its powerful ballistic tools to generate leads on violent criminals from evidence collected at crime scenes. In the last year these tools produced nearly 200,000 leads.

In the meeting with U.S. Attorneys, the AG and DAG discussed the Department’s strategy, which includes providing resources to communities across the country through DOJ grant making components. The Office of Justice Programs and Office of Community Oriented Policing Services are anticipated to award over $1.3 billion to support state and local law enforcement efforts to combat violent crime.

The Attorney General applauded the work of DOJ prosecutors who have prosecuted more than 6000 individuals for violent crimes so far in 2023.