In the past two months, Fort Worth police officers have arrested more than 100 people and confiscated more than 60 weapons as a part of a new crime initiative, Fort Worth Police Chief Neil Noakes said.
On Friday, Noakes sent out a message on social media, talking about the new #FortWorthSafe initiative that started on May 10. Noakes explained that it's a crime reduction operation focused on violent crimes such as homicide, robbery, shootings and aggravated assault.
Noakes said after multiple shootings in April when innocent bystanders were caught in the cross-fire, his team decided to create this new initiative.
One of these incidents involved a 12-year-old girl shot in her front yard as two passing vehicles shot at each other.
"There's violent crime increasing across the nation, and unfortunately, we're seeing some of that here in Fort Worth as well," Noakes said in the released video from Friday.
There were also 112 homicides in Fort Worth in 2020, the highest it has been in 26 years. That number is almost double how many homicides the city reported in 2018.
Since May 10, Fort Worth police have arrested 116 people, issued 87 felony charges, confiscated 64 weapons and arrested 35 gang members, according to police data.
During the Fourth of July weekend, specifically, from June 30-July 6, police arrested 30 people and confiscated 17 weapons.
That came during a holiday weekend when eight people were sent to the hospital after an overnight shooting in Fort Worth.
"We're partnering with state, local and federal partners to make sure we use every method we possibly can to remove violent predators from your neighborhoods," Noakes said.
Fort Worth police also created a gun violence investigations team as a part of this initiative, Noakes said. Since May 10, officers as part of this team have recovered 36 guns from 64 assigned cases.
Noakes said that his officers are not using this as a "saturation detail" to simply write citations and make arrests.
"We're going after the specific people causing violent crime in your neighborhoods," Noakes said.
The Fort Worth Police Department needs cooperation and help from residents to for this initiative to continue, Noakes said.
"We're in this together in this fight against violent crime," Noakes said.
To look at more of the data from this program, click here.