Federal crackdown on violent crime in Wichita nets 1,000 arrests, gun & drug seizures
Wichita police say a targeted, summertime effort to reduce violent crime in the city netted more than 1,000 offender arrests, more than $200,000 in seized cash and took more than 200 illegally possessed guns and around $3 million worth of illegal narcotics off the streets.
Among the arrests were 808 felons and 141 gang members, one official said during a Wednesday morning news conference at Wichita City Hall to discuss what authorities are hailing as a success with its latest “Operation Triple Beam” program, a collaboration among local, state and federal agencies to reduce violent crime in jurisdictions nationwide.
“By removing the criminal element, we keep this community safe,” Wichita Police Chief Gordon Ramsay said Wednesday.
“People should not be walking around that are violent offenders with warrants out for their arrest. And this program targeted our worst offenders and obviously makes a significant difference.”
The Wichita City Council in June approved a request by Ramsay to participate in the federal crackdown amid a surge of violent crime that’s included dozens of shootings, homicides and other offenses in recent months. Operation Triple Beam is not a “street sweep,” but rather a targeted enforcement aimed at arresting and prosecuting violent offenders who are already wanted on warrants before they can commit new crimes, U.S. Marshal for the District of Kansas Ronald Miller said during the news conference.
The program ran for 60 days between July and September and focused on violent, weapons and felony drug crimes.
In all, authorities made 1,072 arrests and confiscated 221 guns that were in the hands of people banned from carrying them, drug addicts and drug dealers, officials said Wednesday. They also seized $200,667 in cash; 2,982 units of ammunition; six vehicles; and more than 363 pounds of narcotics with an estimated street value of $3.052 million. The operation was conducted primarily through vehicle stops and search warrants.
Shootings with victims also appeared to drop as the program ran its course.
In the month before the operation started, the city averaged 21 shooting victims, police said Wednesday. When it ended, Wichita had an average of 11 shooting victims for the month, nearly on par with the five-year average of 12, authorities said.
“Every one of these (seized) guns represents a risk to this community that was ... taken off the streets by virtue of this effort,” said Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett, whose office will prosecute many of the offenders nabbed during the enforcement period. Others face prosecution at the federal level.
This is the second time the city has participated in the program. In 2019, an identical effort resulted in a 40% year-over-year drop in shootings during the two-month enforcement period and netted 930 arrests, 82 gun seizures and more than $835,000 in confiscated illegal narcotics.
Despite the impressive drops, the 2019 enforcement didn’t lead to a lasting decline in the local crime rate. The number of violent offenses rebounded last year as many cities nationwide that not only saw concerning gun crime statistics but also a record number of homicides.
The federal crackdown program is just one of several crime-reduction initiatives that have been undertaken by the Wichita Police Department in recent years as the city’s violent crime rate continues to linger above the national average.
“This is an important step at a time when we see the new national statistics indicating that violence has increased dramatically across the country,” Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran said during the news conference, adding that Wichita is “not immune from those statistics” or “the consequences of crime.”
“This doesn’t end here,” Sedgwick County Sheriff Jeff Easter said. “The three main agencies that work on this every day — the U.S. Marshals Service, (the) Wichita Police Department and ourselves — will continue to do these type of operations and target these type of people.”
The local Operation Triple Beam program included participation by the U.S. Marshals Service; the Kansas Bureau of Investigation; Homeland Security Investigations-Kansas City; the Kansas Department of Corrections; the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office; the Kansas Highway Patrol; the federal Drug Enforcement Agency; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the U.S. Postal Inspection Service; the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office; the United States Attorney’s Office; and the Wichita Police Department.
This story was originally published September 28, 2021 at 6:02 PM.
