The Reno City Council is scheduled to hear at its Wednesday meeting about a proposed partnership between the Reno Police Department (RPD) and federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF).
According to a city staff report
A task force comprised of federal ATF agents and local law enforcement officers will improve the effectiveness of … investigations by consolidating resources and sharing information. The Project Safe Neighborhoods Task Force will also have a U.S. Attorney assigned to the unit which will improve RPD’s ability to pursue federal firearm-related criminal charges. Federal criminal charges have more severe penalties than state charges.
One RPD officer will initially be assigned to the partnership outside of regular duties, and ATF will cover the officer’s overtime pay.
The partnership’s aims are to:
Investigate criminal possession and use of firearms.
Investigate firearms related to violent crime to include commercial robberies.
Investigate illegal firearms trafficking.
Investigate criminal possession of firearms by known gang members and criminal organizations.
Gather and report intelligence data relating to possession and trafficking in firearms.
Conduct proactive operations where appropriate and engage in other traditional methods of investigation in order that the Task Force’s activities will result in effective prosecution before the courts of the United States and the State of Nevada.
The partnership’s objectives, according to the proposed agreement, or memorandum of understanding, will be “to investigate commercial robberies committed with a firearm, interdict and prevent illegal firearms trafficking and to identify, disrupt and dismantle violent gangs and criminal organizations.”
Success will be measured by the number of convictions from firearms-related offenses, “the number of defendants charged with firearms related offenses who were convicted in the given fiscal year and the number of defendants referred for prosecution … for firearms related offenses and the number of firearms taken off the street.”
The partnership will follow federal standards in several areas, which means things like public records, use of informants and the controversial asset forfeitures will follow federal rules.
