Chattanooga police will double the number of officers working to stop gang and gun violence in the city, officials announced Monday.
Now about 20 people work full time on gang and gun violence, and that will jump to 40 as police roll out a new strategy designed to stop violence in the city, police said. Chief Fred Fletcher also plans to hire another 14 police officers, raising the number of officers on the force to 500.
Monday’s announcement came on the heels of a bloody weekend in Chattanooga that left two people dead and another five people wounded in shootings.
The new strategy will focus on three main areas: enforcement, community involvement and aggressive prosecution of federal gun laws, Sgt. Josh May said.
Officers have seized more than 3,700 illegal guns off Chattanooga’s streets since 2012, including 991 in 2016, records show. As part of the new enforcement plan, police will create a five-person team to focus solely on guns, May said, and the team will focus on investigating those cases.