>> Data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation shows violent crime is declining nationwide, including here in Chicago.

Well, local law enforcement has been touting the progress being made.

The federal agencies like the FBI are also supporting the fight against crime in the city.

Joining us with more is Robert was Orrick assistant special agent in charge of the FBI's Chicago Field Office agent.

Welcome to Chicago Night.

Thanks for joining us.

Thank you so much for having me here.

So first, give us a sense of the local field office, the work that you all do there and how you support the national FBI headquarters.

Well, tell you this.

The FBI's number one priority is keeping our community safe.

>> And we do that by working very closely with our local state and federal law enforcement partners.

The FBI's been around for 117 years and we've established that the most efficient best way of accomplishing this mission is to the task force.

Business model.

And by that all across the country, in fact, all across the world, the FBI leads hundreds if not more task force that range from counterterrorism, counterintelligence, cyber and bound crimes.

I run the violent crime program here in Chicago.

We have a rare, very robust task force here.

So the idea is that.

We enlist the help of our local state and federal partners.

They're embedded in our teams.

So we work all day every day together.

There's discernible.

No difference between the agents on my team and the officers.

And that's helpful because those officers act as a connective tissue from their departments to our agencies.

So if we come across a violent criminal that is driving violence in certain neighborhoods.

We're able to learn that information in real time and act on it.

So it makes it extremely it's it's a force multiplier not only because of human capital, but because the intelligence sharing so when we are working with our partners were obviously a lot better because we're talking earlier from Erie, Pennsylvania.

But my home is a Chicago, Illinois.

And when I first came to this area, I learned these neighborhoods from our local and state partners grew up in this area.

Now this this is home for me.

And that's what makes us so.

So personal because I'm raising a family here.

So when the FBI says, you know, our number one priority is keeping the community safe.

It's not an abstract theory.

It's it's It's it's the men and women of the FBI.

And I can tell you this.

We are aggressively pursuing violent crimes.

We've always worked violent crimes, but we're working at at a pace that is an precedent.

And that comes from our top down and doing good job.

>> So let's talk about that because the Chicago police data shows that overall violent crime in the city.

It's down about 22% in the 1st half of this year compared to 2024, there've also been 32%, fewer homicides and 36% fewer shootings in the city.

What do we know about what works to lower crime?

What's what's causing this reduction violence?

So it all it always comes back to the partnerships.

You know, the FBI spearheaded a nationwide initiative over the course of the summer.

It's called Operation Summer Heat.

So for the entire summer.

Week in and week out, we are teaming up with our local partners inside our communities.

And we're taking on new initiatives.

Like, for example, we're targeting child predators, violent gang members, fugitives.

Also the individuals driving the drug trade in our our neighborhoods.

Fentanyl is is incredibly dangerous to call.

drug is an understatement.

It's poison.

I was that I was meeting with the Illinois State Police today and the mother of a child that lost her life.

And this wasn't a hardened drug user.

It was someone that took the wrong thing on the wrong day.

And fentanyl incredibly dangerous.

It is impacting our neighborhoods and that drug trade is driving the violence.

So we talked about Operation Summer Heat.

A couple different tentacles of Operation Summer Heat.

Child, predators.

And one week nationwide, we arrested as the bureau.

255 predators.

We identified them.

We hunted them down 255 predators in Chicago alone in the nationwide in nationwide 255.

So that that is encompassing 55 to from field offices, hundreds of different departments.

Not only what's even more impressive is just in the Chicago land along.

We saved over 100 children from being victimized and you can't quantify that.

Like there's no statistics that that that hammers that home because each each one of these children are human beings.

Important is it is it is priceless course to to be able to if there's no number that could be priced on saving a child's lane.

And there is another initiative that we're doing under the operation.

Summer Heat umbrella and it was a fugitive push.

So we got together with our partners.

The Illinois State Police and we were able to identify the 25.

Baddest of the bad worst violent criminals who had outstanding warrants.

3, these individuals had homicide warrants.

A lot of them had gun warrant.

And then the dangerous narcotics that I talked about that's plaguing our streets.

And one week we rested.

25 find criminals.

So you mentioned child predators, drugs, of course, the fugitive push.

We heard Mayor Brandon Johnson today say that while progress has been made in taking.

>> Illegal guns off the street.

Help is still needed there from the federal government.

Here's a bit of what he said.

>> need the federal government to stop the endless flow guns into our state and into our city.

Chicago police officers have taken more than 24,000 guns, illegal guns off the streets of Chicago since I've taken office.

Over 24,000 illegal guns taken off the streets of Chicago.

Since I've been in office.

They have worked hard every single day to make our city safer.

And they've made historic progress.

>> Agent, where would you say a gun trafficking is on?

The Chicago FBI offices list of priorities to so the criminals that we come in contact with are violent offenders.

You put a gun in that individual's hand.

That isn't just one or 2 victims like we've seen countless times.

That could be multiple victims and not only do they have do.

The subjects of our investigations illegally carry firearms.

But they also modify these weapons.

The calm putting switches on.

We may have heard that term before.

So it takes a regular pistol and makes it into an automatic weapon which in anyone's hands incredibly dangerous and what to do.

makes it even more dangerous is not only the intent behind it, but these weapons are exceedingly hard to manipulate in a safe direction.

So if you're shooting at, you know, your adversary arrival, you're bound to hit a whole group of people.

And that's something that the FBI partners up with.

People like the D the ATF CPD Cook County, Illinois State Police.

Anytime there's a switch involved that wraps up for us.

Well, in part of what the mayor said earlier today was that many of these guns are coming from out of state.

They're coming from surrounding states.

He even called out the state of guns being trafficked that far away into the city of Chicago.

How come the FBI address that?

>> So here's the thing.

The way.

You're very good at at your craft.

A new practice every single day.

>> These criminals that is their livelihood.

That is how they sustain their life and their family and stuff like that through criminal activity.

So they are very clever.

They're very creative.

And they go to the most outrageous links and that means going to Mississippi for guns and as the federal government.

We're not only nationwide were across the entire globe.

So it is very easy for me to reach out to the Jackson field office in Mississippi and say, Hey, can you guys help us with this investigation?

Can you cover this leak?

What do you know about this individual?

What should we know about this individual?

It's a lot more challenging for local law enforcement agency to do that because they don't have that connectivity that we have on a nationwide basis.

And it's something that we do very well and probably couldn't spare the resources as well.

Obviously, actually are as lot more manpower.

But we'll have to have you back a special