A month long joint federal, state, and local law enforcement initiative has resulted in the arrests of 255 individuals in North Mississippi on a variety of criminal charges, including homicide, assault, robbery, arson, drug distribution, illegal gun crimes and failure to register as a sex offender.
“Operation Triple Beam,” a US Marshals led initiative brought together federal, state, and local law enforcement partners in an effort to reduce crime in North Mississippi by identifying and arresting violent fugitives, targeting violent gang activity and collecting intelligence to allow for the systematic removal of individuals who have committed and are committing crimes in North Mississippi.
In addition to the arrests, Operation Triple Beam resulted in the seizure of approximately $52,773 worth of narcotics, $50,565 cash, and 76 firearms as well as the recovery of 11 stolen vehicles.
The announcement was made today in Tupelo by Danny McKittrick, U.S. Marshal for the Northern District of Mississippi, and William C. Lamar, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Mississippi, together with federal, state and local law enforcement partners.
Operation Triple Beam commenced on August 13th, 2018, in Northeast Mississippi and concluded on September 14th, 2018. As a part of the initiative, approximately 150 gang members were arrested or validated by law enforcement. In addition, almost 200 registered sex offenders living in areas of North-East Mississippi were checked for compliance with sex offender registration requirements. Compliance checks were also conducted on another 150 moderate and high-risk federal and state probationers.
The arrests, seizures and compliance checks occurring as part of the Operation Triple Beam initiative resulted from the combined efforts of more than 30 local law enforcement agencies across 13 counties in North Mississippi, along with State and Federal law enforcement partners.
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions praised the collaboration and combined efforts of law enforcement that led to the success of this operation.
“When law enforcement officers work together, we get results,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said. “Again and again, law enforcement in North Mississippi has given the rest of this nation an example of what we can accomplish when we bring together the resources and expertise of our federal officers with the street level intelligence of our state and local partners. The arrest of more than 250 defendants—including multiple sex offenders—as part of Operation Triple Beam builds on the hundreds of arrests that our Deputy Marshals in North Mississippi have helped make over the last year in operations like this one. I want to thank U.S. Attorney Lamar, our outstanding Deputy Marshals, ATF, CBP, six state-level law enforcement agencies, 13 sheriffs, and eight Northeast Mississippi police departments for the roles that they played in these arrests.”
During the initiative, law enforcement agencies were able to utilize a mobile NIBIN (National Integrated Ballistic Information Network Unit) lab provided by ATF to check seized firearms and shell casings. As a result of these checks and the abilities of the NIBIN system to match spent shell casings to particular firearms, ATF generated 17 leads on unsolved gun crimes in Northeast Mississippi and beyond. Those leads will be utilized by law enforcement agencies in Mississippi and across the nation to help investigate unsolved gun crimes.
The use and sharing of investigative resources such as NIBIN and the multi-agency partnerships that were crucial to the success of Operation Triple Beam as a whole are key components of the Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) Program, the Department of Justice’s violence reduction initiative. PSN began in 2002 under President George W. Bush, continued under President Obama and was reinvigorated during President Trump’s administration. As with Operation Triple Beam, PSN focuses on reducing violent crime and making communities safer through partnerships and collaborative efforts between federal, state and local law enforcement and community partners. The PSN program in the Northern District of Mississippi, named MPACT (Mississippi Partners Alleviating Crime Together), has long been a priority for the US Attorney’s Office and a primary means of combatting violent gun crime. Although it originally focused in the areas of Clarksdale and Greenville, Mississippi, the program has been expanded in recent years to reach other areas of the District.
Operation Triple Beam was accomplished in partnership with the following agencies:
U.S. Marshal’s Service
U.S. Attorney’s Office
U.S. Probation
U.S. Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Division
Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms
Mississippi Bureau of Investigations
Mississippi Highway Patrol
Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics
Mississippi Attorney General’s Office
Mississippi Department of Corrections
Mississippi Department of Wildlife and Fisheries
Lee County Sheriff’s Department
Tupelo Police Department
Pontotoc Police Department
Pontotoc Sheriff’s Department
Union County Sheriff’s Department
Monroe County Sheriff’s Department
Chickasaw County Sheriff’s Department
Alcorn County Sheriff’s Department
Corinth Police Department
Booneville Police Department
Prentiss County Sheriff’s Department
Tate County Sheriff’s Department
Lowndes County Sheriff’s Department
Starkville Police Department
Marshall County Sheriff’s Department
Oktibbeha County Sheriff’s Department
Panola County Sheriff’s Department
Itawamba County Sheriff’s Department
Fulton Police Department
Okolona Police Department
New Albany Police Department
