A.T.F. Plans to Send More Agents to Chicago to Curb Violence

http://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/03/us/atf-chicago-gun-violence.html

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The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives plans to send more agents to Chicago to help curb a surge in violence that claimed more than 750 lives there last year, a spokesman for the bureau’s Chicago field division said on Friday night.

The spokesman, David D. Coulson, said that sending additional personnel to the city, where there were more than 3,500 shootings in 2016, has been “in the works for some time to figure out how to leverage our resources.”

CNN reported that the bureau would send 20 additional agents. Mr. Coulson said he was unsure where that figure originated and that “everything is fluid.” A final decision on the number of additional agents will most likely be made in the next week, he said.

The field division, which covers Illinois and parts of Indiana, has more than 100 agents. About 35 are assigned to Chicago, Mr. Coulson said.

The news comes as Chicago, the nation’s third largest city, has been reeling from an increase in gun violence, a sharply critical Department of Justice report and a series of remarks and postings on Twitter about the city from President Trump.

In a tweet on Jan. 24, Mr. Trump threatened to “send in the Feds!” if the city did not fix the “carnage.”

CNN reported that the agents would be assigned to a “Chicago Crime Guns Strike Force.” Mr. Coulson described that as “probably a good depiction.”

He said that agents already assigned to the city work on firearms trafficking cases, cracking down on gangs and those who are prohibited from possessing guns.

Adam Collins, a spokesman for Mayor Rahm Emanuel, said on Friday night that city officials had not been told about the plans for additional federal agents but that the mayor would be glad for their help.

“We have received no word from the federal government to confirm these reports, but it would be welcome news if the administration has indeed agreed to one of Mayor Emanuel’s requests for federal resources,” Mr. Collins said. “We remain hopeful that they will also provide added D.E.A. and F.B.I. agents, that they will boost the prosecution rate for federal gun crimes in Chicago, and that they will provide funding for successful violence prevention efforts.”

More than 750 people were murdered in Chicago in 2016, the police said, a 58 percent increase over 2015, and the highest total since 1997.