September 16, 2020 - Issue: Vol. 166, No. 160 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 2nd Session

[Pages S5631-S5632]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                 Crime

  Mr. BLUNT. Mr. President, as we all know and as any American who has 
watched the news over the summer knows, there has been a terrible 
increase in crime in America's cities. Assaults, shootings, murders 
have been higher this year, and my home State has not been safe from 
this trend. In fact, in St. Louis, MO, there were 55 murders in the 
month of July. That compares to 22 murders a year earlier in July, 
which we thought were way too many then. In Kansas City, MO, homicides 
in the first 6 months of this year were about 40 percent higher than 
they were last year.
  One of the Kansas City victims was a 4-year-old boy named LeGend 
Taliferro. He was murdered in the early hours of July 29 while he was 
asleep--a 4-year-old boy murdered while he was asleep--by a random 
shooting, violence going on outside his home. So early in July, the 
Justice Department launched an effort in Kansas City that has become a 
national effort, which they called Operation LeGend, named for little 
LeGend Taliferro. Under Operation LeGend, Federal law enforcement 
officers are working alongside local police to solve crimes, to make 
arrests, to track down fugitives, and to prepare cases for trial so 
criminals can be held accountable. The key phrase there is 
``alongside.'' Federal agents aren't going in and taking over the 
police department; they are going in to add assistance to the police 
department.
  On that topic, there was no immediate raid of trafficking centers or 
drug gangs or anything like that. I, frankly, thought the Justice 
Department was wrong in not announcing earlier to Federal officials and 
local officials what they were going to do and when they were going to 
do it, but I think we worked with them to see that that isn't going to 
continue to be the case. In fact, in early August, they made a similar 
determination to go into St. Louis.
  One of the advantages of having Federal officers work with the local 
police in these cases is, one, they bring a whole lot more intensity to 
the moment. With the extra help, suddenly something becomes possible 
that wasn't possible before. Also, many of the people arrested can face 
Federal charges as well as other sentences.
  Certainly in our State--in Kansas City and Missouri both--the two 
different U.S. attorney's offices have done a great job working with 
local officials before this but are even better able to look at what 
Federal charges might be faced to take some of that load off the local 
prosecutor and also look for another way to get these people off the 
street.
  By September 1, in Kansas City, the operation had led to the arrest 
of 355 people suspected of serious crimes in Kansas City. More than 100 
of those 355 people have been charged in Federal court. In St. Louis, 
where I said before that the government decided to bring Operation 
LeGend--the Justice Department made that decision in early August, and 
by September 1, there were already 359 arrests, and 128 of those people 
arrested were looking at Federal charges as well.

[[Page S5632]]

  In addition to St. Louis and Kansas City, the Department of Justice 
has launched Operation LeGend in seven other cities. This is not a 
Federal overreach. It is not the Federal Government, again, taking over 
local law enforcement. It is not the first step toward martial law. It 
is not a crackdown on peaceful protests. What it is, is a cooperative 
effort with cities that have been suffering from increases in violent 
crime.
  Under this operation, officers have arrested, nationwide, more than 
2,000 people, including 163 people for murder, and one of the people 
arrested was the alleged killer of 4-year-old LeGend Taliferro.
  The rise of violence in cities this year--and particularly the cities 
I am talking about that have benefited, I think, from Operation 
LeGend--has been incredibly rapid and unbearably destructive, not to 
mention totally unacceptable. It has taken a toll on lives unlived, 
families torn apart, communities terrorized, people wondering what is 
going to happen when they or their children walk out the front door or 
play in the backyard or, like little LeGend, are sound asleep in their 
beds.
  Nothing we do can fully heal the damage, certainly, that these 
victims of violent crime and their families have suffered, but we can 
get the justice that both the victim and people who care about them 
deserve.
  We may have a lot of disagreements in the Congress, but I hope we can 
agree that violent criminals belong behind bars. I hope we can all 
agree that all parents deserve a safe neighborhood where they can raise 
their children. I hope we can all agree that the police do a difficult 
and dangerous job, and they deserve all the support and appreciation we 
can give them.
  Not long ago, LeGend Taliferro's mother spoke about her son and the 
pain of losing him. She said: ``He was a ball of joy, and I want his 
legacy to live on and I want us to continue to fight against violence 
and get justice for my son and others.'' That is the end of that 
mother's quote, but it is not the end of a life that mother will now 
live without her son or the life he didn't get to live. And there are 
too many lives that didn't get to be lived, too many lives lost through 
needless violence.
  Operation LeGend gives local law enforcement the valuable support 
they need to get violent criminals off the street. Again, it was named 
for an innocent 4-year-old boy. It could have been named for any of the 
thousands of other victims of violent criminals in dozens of other 
cities this year. It could have been named for St. Louis Police Officer 
Tamarris Bohannon, who was killed in the line of duty last month. It 
could have been named for the two officers in California who had a 
sneak attack as they were sitting and trying to secure the local 
transportation center just in the last couple of days. It is a tragedy 
that it had to be named for anyone.
  While some people have sought to defund the police and to disparage 
the police, Operation LeGend is successful because it supports the 
police. These are some of the hardest jobs in America, second only to 
the families of people who care deeply about their loved ones who have 
decided to serve in that job to protect us all.
  American communities are safer because of Operation LeGend. They will 
be safer as we continue to work toward greater and more effective 
community policing. They will be safer when people who are violent 
criminals are no longer walking around to perpetuate further violence.
  I salute the Justice Department for their efforts and the local 
departments that have reached out and taken advantage of the moment to 
get something done that they were not able to get done by themselves
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Florida.