The Dallas Police Department has officially launched its newest interagency initiative, “Operation Pegasus,” leading to the seizure of hundreds of guns and dozens of significant arrests in the eastern part of the city.
Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Prerak Shah said that the new initiative was launched by the justice department this year in Pleasant Grove. He said that they zoomed in on the area after it stood out from the data map of every shooting incident in the city over the last four months, NBCDFW reported.
According to Dallas Chief of Police Eddie Garcia during a joint news conference with leaders from the DOJ, ATF, the Dallas Police Department, and the Texas Department of Public Safety on Thursday, that the interagency initiative also used combined background and methodologies in the investigations He said that they also share the data, along with the highlights of some of the larger busts.
Meanwhile, Shah said that the investigators are putting their focus on the people who were fueling the violence. They are particularly focused on those who were flooding the area with guns, as well as those who were committing crimes. He said that the interagency focused on armed criminals because they are more likely to commit more violent crimes in the future.
Shah also shared that in some of the recent busts, they seized 14 guns and $1.8 million in cash, while another one involved the arrest of several people selling cocaine and meth in front of a strip shopping mall.
Shah shared that the residents of Dallas are bound to see safer streets with the new interagency’ Operation Pegasus in place.
“We all want the residents of southeast Dallas to know that we are there for you and we will not rest until your neighborhoods are safe places to live and to work,” Shah said.
