A 90-day sting operation in Dallas has proven to be successful in acquiring weapons, cash, and drugs from alleged criminals in the area. The event, called Operation Pegasus, joined local and federal agencies to track gun crime and retrieve weapons from alleged criminals. Over a hundred guns, as well as drugs, ammunition, and money were secured in the three-month period.
Operation Pegasus was intended to be a deliberate analysis of gun crime in Dallas and calculated enforcement. The Dallas Police Department teamed with the ATF and the Texas Department of Public Safety to carry out the operation. First, Dallas as a whole was observed and gun crime was noted on a day-to-day basis.
Southeast Dallas was found to be the target of the most violence and gun deaths. Undercover officers began sting operations in the neighborhoods to capture distributors of firearms and drugs. So far, dozens of people have been arrested, and $2 million in cash has been found. Drugs and guns were also seized from houses by the ATF. Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia noted, “Our approach was deliberate, decisive, focused, and yielded results.”
According to the CDC’s Gun Mortality API, in 2018 and 2019, Dallas has had a death-by-firearm rate of 13.4 people per 100,000. This number rose from a low of 9.2 per 100,000 in 2014. Dallas’s slowly increasing violence came to a head in 2020, which showed the highest number of murders in the last 15 years. Dallas police are aware of the statistics, and see the reality behind them every day on the streets. Police hope Operation Pegasus will be a stepping stone towards a better and safer future.
Along with taking weapons off the hands of alleged criminals, there was also money and drugs taken off the streets and away from dealers. ATF Dallas Special Agent Jeffrey Boshek states, “What’s big too is $1.8 million in cash. It was in trash bags. It was like something off of TV. We didn’t know it was going to be there. That’s a significant hit to narcotics traffickers.”