PHOENIX — Tackling crime amid an ongoing officer shortage, according to Phoenix's Interim Police Chief, is no reason to let up.
"We do not have any choice. We are going to fight crime with the men and women along with our partners. That is the way we can do what we have to do to keep the folks in Phoenix safe,” said Chief Michael Sullivan.
On Thursday, law enforcement announced the arrests of nearly 600 people in a recent five-day crackdown.
The program, billed as Operation Summer Shield, positioned officers to better identify, find and arrest violent offenders with outstanding warrants.
U.S. Marshals worked with Phoenix Police Department from June 5-9.
"We tried to do our best to give them every day what we specialized in and that is the fugitive manhunts,” said Acting U.S. Marshal Van Bayless.
Various agencies, together, cleared four homicide cases and close to 700 warrants. They also seized four dozen weapons.
Chief Sullivan calls the crime crackdown a success.
ABC15 asked the chief if there were areas where the operation fell short.
“We have an after-action report, which we do after everything, and it just got distributed yesterday. We will take a deep look to see if there are any areas that we can improve next time,” said Chief Sullivan.
Police say while this was only a five-day operation, the planning and coordination took seven weeks.
