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Coming soon to a neighborhood near you: Politically motivated feel-good civil rights violations in the name of public safety!

SP Times:

A new law enforcement initiative announced Thursday will target some of Tampa's most violent criminals, especially the ones who illegally use guns.

Local members of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives have teamed with Tampa police and other agencies to go after the "worst of the worst."

The initiative, called the Violent Crime Impact Team, has been unveiled in 15 cities nationwide. The idea, officials said, is to build on Project Safe Neighborhoods, initiated in 2000.

The Violent Crime Impact Team initiative will be more proactive, aggressively using new technologies, intelligence resources and traditional enforcement strategies to identify the worst offenders and get them off the streets, officials said.

Tampa and the other cities were selected because they either had high crime rates despite the falling national average, or they had specific areas that needed help. John Ryan, assistant special agent in charge of the ATF's local office, said Tampa has the second highest crime rate of similarly sized cities in the country.

The two main target areas for the initiative in Tampa are Jackson Heights and Sulphur Springs.

"It starts with the thug on the corner," Tampa police Maj. George McNamara said at a news conference Thursday. "We are coming to get you."

The officials would not say how many agents and officers would be involved. The ATF is not getting any new agents in Tampa to help out, and McNamara said the police will not add more officers to the targeted areas. Ryan said it was more a "fine tuning" of resources.

Oh, and then there’s the politically motivated part:

In addition to Tampa, the cities identified for the initiative are: Albuquerque, N.M.; Baltimore; Chattanooga, Tenn.; Miami; Richmond, Va.; Greensboro, N.C.; Tulsa, Okla.; Pittsburgh; Las Vegas; Columbus, Ohio; Philadelphia; Los Angeles; Tucson, Ariz.; and the Washington, D.C./Northern Virginia region.

Ten of the cities selected for the initiative are in states expected to play important roles in the presidential election, and questions of political motives are bound to arise in an election year.

So, a few days ago, TPD announces that Tampa is in the midst of a horrendous crime spree. Now, John Ashcroft and the feds are going to ride in on black SUVs and save us from our gun toting neighbors. Don’t you feel safer now?