Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) announced that a federal and state operation led to the arrest of more than 500 criminals and could serve as a model to crack down on crime across the country.
Hagerty told Breitbart News in an interview that Operation Viper had just come to a close on Friday, which happened as the result of conversations with Memphis Mayor Paul Young (D) as well Gov. Bill Lee (R).
He first started talking to Young about fixing crime in November 2024.
Viper utilized both state and federal resources to help Mayor Young in the second biggest city in the Volunteer State. Next steps may include utilizing Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), and Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF), and even the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
The Tennessee senator said it has yielded staggering results.
“We’ll have north of 500 arrests. We’ll have north of 100 federal indictments, and those indict, those indictment numbers grow as they work up the cases,” he explained.
Hagerty added, “The governor has stepped up with state resources, and the mayor’s Police Department has been extremely focused on cracking down on this.”
He continued, “I’ve been very focused. And, the mayor has been very clear with me, to give him credit, been very clear with me that we have to leave a long term solution in place, meaning Memphis has for years been short in terms of the number of police,” saying that the project would help make Memphis one of the safest cities in the country.”
Hagerty started working on the Memphis crime issue last November and has been leading with federal, state, and local officials to lower crime in the city.
Hagerty said, “I think it absolutely can prove the model. And also I think what it will prove is this, if you can set partisanship aside and just just focus on an end result that everybody wants to see. And again, the partisans may not be happy in Memphis, but the citizens of Memphis will be safe. That that’s the goal.”
He remarked, “If we go ahead and just take take the benefit of this, this full menu of resources that are being made available, then I think what we’ll see is the ability then to sustain something on the very long term. And that’s been my pledge, and that’s Governor Lee’s pledge, is that we will make certain the resources are in place there over the long haul to maintain the safety.”
Hagerty said he is working with the mayor on potential federal legislative solutions that could further work to limit crime across the nation. He said that, with the assassination of Turning Points USA founder Charlie Kirk, this news may serve as a “bright light.”
He explained, “I just think that in the wake of a lot of tragedy, a somber moment with 9/11, with Charlie’s demise, and then this, I hope what we see is a bright light here. Memphis is a great city, and we have an opportunity here to make certain that it’s the safest city in America. And I couldn’t be more pleased or appreciative to have the support of President Trump.”
Hagerty said, “In that regard, I’ve had the full support of the executive branch. Certainly, the governor has made every resource available to this as well, and the city has been willing to work with us at every level to try to –this has been a concern. The mayor ran on this, ran on public safety, and had already, already already had an effort underway. It was already making progress, and we just added to that with this Project Viper, which I think has proven very successful. And every time we demonstrate success, we’re going to have more resources to move forward.”
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