ABQ Times

U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Mexico issued the following announcement on April 1.

            The Department of Justice has awarded a $1.4 million grant to the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO) as part of Operation Relentless Pursuit, a public safety initiative launched by Attorney General William P. Barr in December 2019 to combat the high rate of violent crime in Albuquerque and six other major U.S. cities. 

            “As we work together to drive down the violent crime rate in Albuquerque, our local law enforcement partners must have the best training and equipment to meet this challenge,” said U.S. Attorney John C. Anderson of the District of New Mexico.  “We are thankful to Attorney General Barr and the Department of Justice for providing the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office with these essential resources at a time when they are most urgently needed.  We look forward to partnering with them in this effort.” 

            “I am extremely grateful to the Attorney General, U.S. Attorney and the Department of Justice for their trust and support of BCSO as we continue to combat Albuquerque’s out of control crime crisis,” said Bernalillo County Sheriff Manuel Gonzales III. “As Sheriff, I am focused on doing what it takes to keep our children, families and businesses safe from career criminals and gun violence in Albuquerque, and now we have the desperately needed resources to do so thanks to the federal government. With the support of the Department of Justice, we will continue to clean up the streets of Albuquerque.”

            The FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and U.S. Marshals Service are leading Operation Relentless Pursuit in close coordination with their state and local partners in Albuquerque, Baltimore, Cleveland, Detroit, Kansas City, Memphis, and Milwaukee.  The primary focus of Operation Relentless Pursuit is federal partnership with state and local law enforcement to reduce violent crime in Albuquerque and the other six cities by building federal cases against the most violent criminals and organizations for prosecution by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices.

            The Department of Justice’s commitment to Operation Relentless Pursuit includes an increase in federal agents to these seven cities complemented by a financial commitment of up to $71 million in federal grant funding to hire new officers, pay overtime and benefits, finance federally deputized task force officers, and provide mission-critical equipment and technology. BCSO intends to use the specific funding from this grant to provide advanced training for task force officers, acquire marked and unmarked vehicles for surveillance, and purchase equipment to reduce violent crime.

Original source can be found here.