PHX Reporter

Law enforcement officials in Phoenix are partnering with county and federal agencies in a program designed to address the city's growing problem of gun violence, the City of Phoenix announced recently.

Operation Gun Crime Crackdown, which launched July 5, is described as a "multi-agency, multi-faceted focused enforcement aimed at reducing the number of violent gun crimes which have been plaguing our city," the City of Phoenix stated in the June 22 announcement. Homicides with firearms have increased 45% and aggravated assaults with firearms are up 23% in the past year, according to the announcement.

“Guns are getting into the wrong hands leaving children without parents, families devastated and communities living in fear," Phoenix Police Chief Jeri Williams said in the announcement. "We must do something to protect our children, our community’s officers, from gun violence."

The operation will focus on quickly solving gun crimes through a coordinated effort involving Phoenix police officers, Maricopa County Attorney's Office supervisors and agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the City reported in the statement. 

Ten Phoenix detectives will be assigned to the precincts with the highest incidents of gun crime to work with Neighborhood Enforcement Teams and patrol officers, according to the City's statement. ATF agents and Phoenix’s Gun Crime Intelligence Unit will collaborate to analyze and compare ballistic evidence with the National Intelligence Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN), the City states.

“Any time federal and local law enforcement works together, it is a good thing," former Phoenix assistant police chief Andy Anderson told ABC15 News. "We have to do something. The violent crime is out of control right now."

Phoenix police are also encouraging residents to help stop gun crime by reporting it.

“If you hear gunfire in your neighborhood, we need you to call 911,” Williams said in a report by AZFamily. “We’ve also set up a tip line. Operation Gun Crime Crackdown is about getting guns out of the hands of those who should not have them.”