BATON ROUGE -- Following the shooting at the Mall of Louisiana in April, The capital region has seen an infusion of state troopers patrolling the streets.

The WBRZ Investigative Unit has learned that some of those troopers may soon become federal agents.

Last week, Louisiana State Police teamed up with the FBI and the U.S. Attorney's Office to deputize several Troop NOLA officers as federal agents.

"It gives us additional tools that we can put in our particular toolbox to help reduce the violence and the crime that's going on around the state," Governor Jeff Landry said. "It's something that we wanna do."

Landry wants to see the program expand statewide.

"Everything that we've done and tried in New Orleans, we've then tried to take lessons learned from that city and then replicate the things that have been successful in places like Baton Rouge and eventually in Shreveport, Alexandria, and other cities around the state," Landry said. "I think it's a great idea."

The partnership lets the U.S. Attorney choose which cases to prosecute at the federal level.

"A lot of the factors that go into that are how quickly the case can be adjudicated, the length of the sentence or the likely sentence and the seriousness of the offense," Former U.S. Attorney for the Middle District Brandon Fremin said.

Fremin says moving cases to federal courts can help ease the backlog in local judicial districts.

"Oftentimes, the federal court system can process those cases quicker and you can sometimes get a more favorable sentence."

The partnership also brings other potential benefits.

"Another benefit of having a federal partner in law enforcement is the resources so I think what you'll see in the near future is a lot more cooperation from federal law enforcement and a lot more involvement from federal law enforcement collaborating with local law enforcement," Fremin said. "There's going to be an infusion of resources and federal money right here in Baton Rouge."

In another example of a local and federal partnership, the Metro Council last week approved an agreement with the Department of Homeland Security that would provide more than $1 million in federal money toward renovating Baton Rouge Police Department headquarters.

The renovated facility will eventually house the Homeland Security Investigation's task force, which will target gangs in the city.