Thank you, Russel for that introduction, for your leadership
in this office, and for your service as an FBI Special Agent. As a former senator, I am certain that your
experience as a hostage negotiator must have been useful for Senator
McConnell. But seriously, you’ve made
big sacrifices for this country and I want you to know that we are
grateful. And I am confident that the
people of Western Kentucky are in good hands.
Before I say anything else I want to offer my condolences to
the people of Kentucky, who are still in mourning over the senseless shooting
that took place in Marshall County last week.
This morning Amy Hess, the FBI Special Agent in Charge for Louisville,
briefed me on the shooting, and I want you to know that this Department will do
whatever we can to be of assistance. Our FBI experts are some of the best but
there are no easy answers.
I want to thank you for your hospitality. This is my 34th visit to a U.S. Attorney’s
Office. I’m always inspired to meet the
attorneys, investigators, and officers who are in the trenches every day making
us safer.
On behalf of President Trump, I want to thank all of the law
enforcement officers who are here with us today. He strongly supports you and honors what you
do.
In particular I want to recognize Commissioner Rick Sanders
of the Kentucky State Police. Rick has
taken the lead on the response to last week’s shooting. I’m honored that you’re here and I want to
thank you for your 24 years in the DEA and 40 years of service in law
enforcement. You have made a real
difference in this community.
It was largely because of officers like all of you that
crime declined in America for 20 years.
From 2014 to 2016, however, the trends reversed. The violent crime rate went up by nearly
seven percent. Robberies went up. Assaults went up nearly 10 percent. Rape went up by nearly 11 percent. Murder shot up by more than 20 percent.
Meanwhile, our country has suffered the deadliest drug
crisis in our history. More Americans
are dying because of drugs than ever before.
In 2016, an estimated 64,000 Americans died of drug overdose—one every
nine minutes. That’s roughly the
population of Bowling Green dead in one year.
And in 2017 it appears that the death toll was even higher.
For Americans under the age of 50, drug overdoses are now
the leading cause of death. And millions
of Americans are living with the daily struggle of an addiction.
Sadly, Louisville knows this all too well.
The murder rate doubled in Louisville in just two
years. And in December, the Major City
Police Chiefs Association of America ranked Louisville as the 11th most
dangerous city in the United States.
Meanwhile more people are dying from drug overdoses than
ever before. More than 1,400 Kentuckians
died of overdoses in 2016. Nearly half
of these deaths were the result of fentanyl, and a third involved heroin.
But as we all know, these are not numbers—these are moms,
dads, daughters, spouses, friends, and neighbors.
But let me tell you this: we will not stand back and let
crime and addiction rise. Plain and
simple, we will not allow the progress made by our women and men in blue over
the past two decades to slip through our fingers. We will not cede one block or one street
corner to violent thugs or poison peddlers.
President Trump knows how to give clear orders. The day I was sworn in as Attorney General,
he sent me a simple, straightforward executive order: reduce crime in America.
At the Department of Justice, we embrace that goal. And you and I know from experience that it
can be done. Crime rates aren’t like the
tides—we can take action to help bring them down.
And over the past year, we have taken action. In 2017, the Department of Justice brought
cases against the greatest number of violent criminals in a quarter of a
century. We charged the most federal
firearm prosecutions in a decade. We
also arrested and charged hundreds of people suspected of contributing to the
ongoing opioid crisis.
We secured the convictions of nearly 500 human traffickers
and 1,200 gang members, and worked with our international allies to arrest or
charge more than 4,000 MS-13 members.
MS-13 didn’t like that, by the way. I saw a news report last week from Voice of
America that the MS-13 gang leaders back in El Salvador have taken notice of
these efforts. They know that hundreds
of their members are now behind bars. So
now they’re trying to send younger and more violent gang members to the United
States to replenish their depleted ranks.
Nationally we are beginning to see positive signs. In the first six months of last year, the
increase in the murder rate slowed significantly and violent crime actually
went down. Publicly available data for
the rest of the year suggest further progress.
These are major accomplishments that benefit the American
people. And these are your accomplishments.
At the Department of Justice, we are well aware that 85
percent of law enforcement is state, local, and tribal. These are the authorities that have the
critical street level intelligence regarding the criminal element.
We are most effective when these experienced state and local
investigators are paired with the resources and expertise of the 15 percent
that are our federal law enforcement.
That is the idea behind our crime reduction strategy:
Project Safe Neighborhoods, or PSN. PSN encourages U.S. Attorneys’ offices to
work with the communities they serve to customize their crime reduction
strategies.
And this is a proven model.
One study showed that, in its first seven years, PSN reduced violent
crime overall by 4.1 percent, with case studies showing reductions in certain
areas of up to 42 percent. There are
Americans who are alive and well today because this program made a difference.
We understand that every district and even every city is
different. I have directed Russell and
our other U.S. Attorneys to target the most violent criminals in the most
violent areas and to work with local police chiefs, mayors, community groups
and victims’ advocates to develop a custom crime reduction plan. Listening to the people you serve was a
winning strategy for me when I was a U.S. Attorney, and I know it will be a
winning strategy for you.
In fact, it already is.
Russell and the men and women in this office have done an exemplary job
of using this PSN model. I’m
particularly impressed with the Louisville Metro Intelligence—or LMINTEL—which
is an intelligence-gathering collaboration between Chris Evans of the DEA, Amy
Hess of the FBI, Stuart Lowrey of ATF, the Marshals Service, Commonwealth
Attorney Tom Wine, and Chief Conrad of Louisville police.
In the past year, LMINTEL has led to 140 arrests. Just last week, thanks in part to LMINTEL, a
felon who threatened to kill a Louisville Police Officer got a substantial
sentence in federal court.
Our goal is not to fill up the prisons. Our goal is to reduce crime, just as
President Trump directed us to do.
I’m also impressed with Project Recoil, which is a PSN
partnership between ATF, this office, and state, county, and local law
enforcement. The goal is to charge
violent offenders with the most serious provable offense—and maximize their
sentence. I’ve seen how you’ve put away
felons possessing firearms for 10 and even 15 years. These successes prevent violence and make would-be
criminals think twice.
You’re doing great work for the people of Western Kentucky.
We are right to celebrate these victories. But we still have a lot more work to do
reduce violent crime and turn the tide of the opioid epidemic.
That’s why we are also taking steps to decrease the number
of overdose deaths.
For example, in August I announced a new data analytics
program – the Opioid Fraud and Abuse Detection Unit. I created this unit to focus specifically on
opioid-related health care fraud. It
uses data to identify and prosecute individuals that are contributing to this
opioid epidemic. It can tell us
important information about prescription opioids—like who is prescribing the
most drugs, who is dispensing the most drugs, and whose patients are dying of
overdoses.
The numbers don’t lie—even if the fraudsters do. And now the fraudsters can’t hide.
I have also assigned experienced prosecutors in opioid hot
spot districts to focus solely on investigating and prosecuting opioid-related
health care fraud. I have sent these
prosecutors to where they are especially needed—including Kentucky.
And in November the DEA reorganized its field divisions for
the first time in nearly 20 years. The
Louisville field office is now upgraded to become the Louisville Field
Division, with jurisdiction over Kentucky, Tennessee, and West Virginia.
Now I am announcing today that, over the next 45 days, DEA
will surge Special Agents, Diversion Investigators, and Intelligence Research
Specialists to focus on pharmacies and prescribers who are dispensing unusual
or disproportionate amounts of drugs.
DEA collects some 80 million transaction reports every year
from manufacturers and distributors of prescription drugs. These reports contain information like
distribution figures and inventory. DEA
will aggregate these numbers to find patterns, trends, statistical outliers—and
put them into targeting packages.
That will help us make more arrests, secure more
convictions—and ultimately help us reduce the number of prescription drugs
available for Americans to get addicted to or overdose from these dangerous
drugs.
I want to personally express my deep appreciation and
profound thanks to all the women and men of law enforcement and their families,
for sacrificing so much and putting your lives on the line every day so that
the rest of us may enjoy the safety and security you provide. We love you and honor your work.
You can be certain about this: we have your back and you
have our thanks.
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