Attorney General William Barr has revealed that the federal law enforcement intervention program named “Operation Legend” has effectively cut the murder rate in Chicago in half.

According to The Daily Wire:

Attorney General William Barr announced Wednesday that Operation Legend — a Department of Justice program designed to supplement major city police departments with federal agents and resources amid an unprecedented national crime wave — has cut the Chicago murder rate “roughly in half” since launch and has “reversed” a surge of violence that was leaving dozens killed.

Barr told reporters, at a press conference held in Chicago, that Operation Legend has led to 500 individual arrests and has charged 124 people who federal crimes, according to Fox News. Those charges range from firearms and narcotics trafficking to bank fraud.

“Throughout the country, more than 2500 people have been arrested and more than 600 are facing federal charges as part of the operation, an ongoing government effort to combat surging crime in parts of the country,” the outlet continued, citing official numbers announced Wednesday.

Operation Legend launched in Chicago in early July, after the city experienced a shocking spike in shootings and homicides following the release of coronavirus-related lockdowns. Gang violence on the city’s south and west sides also spiked, leaving a number of minors — including several children five years of age and younger — dead or severely injured.

In Chicago alone, there are 400 federal agents assigned to the task force. The task force places agents from the FBI, DEA, US Marshalls, and the ATF with big-city police department investigators to help with organized crime like weapons and narcotics trafficking and gun violence.