(The Center Square) – When previous U.S. attorneys or the Department of Justice weren’t prosecuting border crimes, local law enforcement felt as if they didn’t have federal support. This has now changed, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Mississippi Scott Leary said.
His office released details about a recent multiagency operation, but at a press conference he highlighted the reason why this operation was just the beginning of a statewide concerted effort to crack down on border crime.
“Beginning in 2020, our borders opened up and drugs spilled into this country,” he said. Law enforcement saw “the price of methamphetamine drop 80%, fentanyl pills that used to cost 30 bucks a pill now cost dollars, and our young people paid the price. Cartels moved in. They flooded our streets with drugs. They took our money and they killed our children.”
While the federal government has played a limited role in combatting border-related crime in Mississippi, he said, local law enforcement has stepped up. Dozens of agencies are working together to “cover the whole Northern District of Mississippi. The citizens of this state … expect us to work together and to the degree that has not happened in the past, we’re going to work hard to change that. This is an effective operation that will continue and hopefully we can get this violent crime spree and cheap drugs addressed and off the street.”
He’s referring to Operation Overload, a recently concluded saturations that resulted in 793 citations, 51 illegal drug and firearm related charges, and 23 non-drug firearm related charges, according to Leary’s office. They also arrested 16 illegal foreign nationals detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Similar operations have been ongoing in Texas and Florida for years through multiple targeted border crime operations, The Center Square has reported.
But in Mississippi, Operation Overload represents a new effort law enforcement agencies hope to replicate statewide. The Lee County Sheriff’s Office, Shannon, Verona and Plantersville police departments, North Mississippi Narcotics Unit-Tupelo, Mississippi Alcoholic Beverage Control, Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics, Mississippi Highway Patrol, Mississippi Attorney General’s office, Homeland Security, the DEA and ATF were all involved in the operation.
“Operation Overload was launched in response to the voices of our citizens, law abiding men and women who live work and raise families in these communities and who deserve safe neighborhoods and effective law enforcement. From the start, this effort has been about standing up for those citizens, and about dismantling drug dealers and traffickers who choose to operate in our communities,” Lee County District Attorney Jason Herring said.
The operation was “strategically planned and intelligence driven and executed with precision. The results were outstanding and clearly demonstrate what focused enforcement can accomplish,” he added.
The nearly 800 charges “represent more than statistics,” he said. “They represent accountability, safer streets and disrupted criminal activity. We are committed to protecting law abiding citizens through professional effective law enforcement operations and through aggressive laser focused prosecution of drug trafficking offenses. If you choose to traffic drugs in this district we will work tirelessly to ensure that choice carries real consequences.”
He also said illegal drug activity often “leads to violent offenses including homicides and is the root of the majority of our crimes in this district.”
The agencies have since launched Operation Reload “to sustain enforcement efforts and remain proactive and protecting our communities” led by the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics Tupelo Division.