Michigan police working with feds to combat illegal firearms, violent crime

DETROIT – Police in Michigan are working with federal officials to take violent offenders off the street and confiscate illegal guns.

“In a month and a half, we have taken hundreds of guns and offenders off the street,” U.S. Attorney Matthew Schneider said.

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Police officers and federal officials are finding illegal guns on many more people. In one month, Dearborn had a 140% increase in gun arrests.

People are finding the need to be armed, and Operation Legend aims to get guns out of the hands of those who use them to commit crimes -- especially robberies and assaults.

“We don’t want them there if they are illegal,” Schneider said. “Who would want them? Nobody would.”

As part of Operation Legend, federal officials plan to target violence in America’s most violent cities. That’s controversial to many people who say feds came to Detroit to arrest anti-police protesters.

Schneider said the reality is that since the expansion of the operation was announced over the summer, local police are working with feds to arrest violent offenders.

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