Community leaders express mixed reaction on Operation LeGend

Whether Operation LeGend worked depends on who you ask in Kansas City.

The police and the justice department say the work to reduce violent crime continues, despite 200 federal agents leaving the city after two months.

TONIGHT - THE FEDERALAGENTS WHO CAME TOKANSAS CITY TO CRACKDOWN ON CRIME - AREGONE.BUT WE'RE TOLD THEWORK ON OPERATIONLEGEND - IS NOT OVER.41 ACTION NEWSREPORTER SARAH PLAKEWENT TO FIND OUTWHETHER PEOPLE IN THECOMMUNITY BELIEVE THISFEDERAL OPERATIONMADE A DIFFERENCE.Whether Operation LeGendwas worth it or not dependson who you ask..

The goal isto reduce crime..

And it seemscommunity leaders still havedifferent ideas on how to gethere.The 200 federal agents sent toKansas City for OperationLeGend are gone, althoughthey say their work in solvingviolent crime is not over.I really feel like it didaccomplish a lot.

Yes, we stillhave things we take care of,but I feel like it's more of acommunity issue now.

Theydid what they came to do, theysupported us in the way theycould.The operation was namedafter Charron Powell's four-year-old son, LeGendTaliferro.

He was shot andkilled while sleeping whenpolice say Ryson Ellis openedfire on the house.

He's incustody and recently pleadednot-guilty to murder.Just cause I'm on the vergeof justice, it's a lot ofchildrenthat has been murdered thatthey do not have justice.Since July 8, 113 people havebeen charged with federalcrimes.

Agents worked onbusting gang members, majordrug dealers, and gettingillegal guns off the streets.The US Attorney's office plansto announce updated numberson Monday.We have a heck of lot morework to do.

I'm committed toworking with our police dept,our prosecutors, and everyonein our community to makesure we have a safer place,particularly for our youngpeople.Stacy Shaw, attorney andcommunity activist, calls it agross misallocation ofresources..Even when the federal agentswere here, 225 federal agents,we had another 10, 11murders.

So clearly thatsignals that no amount ofpolice presence is going toprevent violence.

They canonly punish violence.Shaw says our city and stateleadership need to direct moreresources to education,housing and mental healthservices - which is whatactivists have beendemanding for years.Because we're involved inthis cyclical of violence andcriminality in our communitybecause the root causes havenot been addressed, it doesn'tmatter how many agents theysend.

They'll be back nextyear and the year after that.Sarah Plake 41 action news.OPERATION LEGEND ISN'TJUST HAPPENING INKANSAS CITY.FEDERAL AGENTS AREALSO WORKING TO CURBVIOLENT CRIME INALBUQUERQUE, CHICAGO,CLEVELAND, DETROIT,INDIANAPOLIS, MEMP