DETROIT (WWJ) – In an attempt to target violent gun crime in Detroit, city and federal officials on Monday rolled out a new policing strategy for this summer.
With another expected surge in summer violence, Detroit police will be teaming up with federal authorities, including the FBI and ATF to target some of the city’s most dangerous areas. That includes the 8th Precinct on the northwest side and the 9th Precinct on the northeast side.
Project Safe Neighborhoods will focus on those areas, deemed to have the highest rates of violent crime in the city.
U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan Dawn Ison said Monday her office will be swift to take action on those who violate gun laws.
“Any felon arrested in those places for illegally possessing firearms will be prosecuted federally. And that means any individual who uses a firearm to commit a crime of violence or a drug trafficking offense will be considered for federal prosecution.”
Ison says any felon arrested for illegally possessing a gun could face up to 10 years in prison under federal charges.
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Ison said her office, Detroit police, the FBI and ATF will be “going for the most violent people, the most violent groups and the most violent places.”
The enforcement and strategy will be “focused, balanced and fair,” she said.
Officials said in a press release that studies have shown that violent crime is “commonly driven by a small number of actors and is highly concentrated within communities.”
“And we know that as temperatures rise, so too does violent crime in these neighborhoods,” the release said.
Officials say the 8th and 9th Precincts lead the city in fatal and non-fatal shootings, robberies, and aggravated assaults with a gun so far this year, though officials didn’t release any statistics.
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