New Measures to Combat Crime: Will They Work?

June 1, 2007 — -- To combat national trends that show an uptick in violent crime, the Justice Department announced a series of legislative steps and enforcement action Friday.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales announced the efforts in a speech to employees at the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives headquarters.

The effort includes the expansion of the ATF's Violent Crime Impact Teams -- adding four groups to be deployed to Orlando, Fla., San Bernardino, Calif., Mesa, Ariz., and San Juan, Puerto Rico.

"Each of these cities has seen an unacceptable increase in homicides or other violent crimes," Gonzales said. "And authorities in each have come forward and asked for our help."

Gonzales also said that an FBI Safe Street Task Force would be established in Orlando.

The Department of Justice established the ATF's Violent Crime Impact teams in 2004 in 15 cities, using federal agents to fund the cooperative effort between state and local law enforcement, targeting the most violent criminals in the communities.

The program, which will be in 29 cities after Friday's announced plan, has shown results in arresting criminals associated with gun crimes and gang violence.

According to ATF statistics, the program has resulted in the arrest of 9,000 individuals, mostly drug dealers and gang members, and 1650 repeat offenders. It has recovered more than 11,000 guns used in crime.

Gonzales also said the Justice Department is sending "comprehensive crime legislation" to Capitol Hill that looks to extend the statute of limitations for violent crimes, provide more flexibility in sentencing those who violate the Gun Control Act, and tighten sentencing guidelines.

The speech by Gonzales comes days before the FBI's Monday release of its annual crime statistics report.

In an interview to be broadcast on C-Span Sunday, FBI Assistant Director John Miller said, "There would be, in all likelihood, a continued uptick in violent crime, particularly among midsize American cities."

But Gonzales' speech also coincided with the release of an Office of the Inspector General report that found that task forces like the Violent Crime Impact Teams, as well as similar groups from other branches of Justice Department, often duplicate efforts and fail to coordinate with one another and local governments.

"Our analysis of nationwide task force arrest data and our site visits indicated that the components' coordination of task force investigations is uneven. The nationwide arrest data showed that the task forces duplicated one another's efforts more often than they cooperated in joint investigations," the Inspector General report stated.

The report notes that despite policy changes in the Justice Department, "coordination issues continued to occur.

"As a result of the lack of department-level policies requiring coordination, the components' coordination of task force investigations is inadequate," the report continued.

In a statement responding to the OIG review, Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd said, "Law enforcement coordination is critical to addressing violent crime and remains a keystone of the department's anti-crime efforts. The Justice Department agrees with the recommendations of the Office of Inspector General in its report … .and has already taken steps to implement those recommendations."

Gonzales, in a nod to critics who've called for his resignation following the controversy over the fired U.S. attorneys, said, "I know that I have only 18 months left in my term as attorney general" but told the ATF employees he's committed to meeting crime-fighting goals.

"It can truly be said that our efforts at fighting violent crime are all about cooperation. I know that every one of us in this room is dedicated to stopping crime. But I also know that no matter how hard we work, how many hours we put in, how far we push ourselves, no one person here can do it alone."