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Feds to pay $1 million to renovate old OB-GYN office into gang task force headquarters
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BATON ROUGE — A former OB-GYN office at the old Women's Hospital is being converted into the headquarters of a new federal gang task force.
The federal government will spend more than $1 million to renovate the space, turning former patient rooms into functioning offices.
Baton Rouge Police Chief TJ Morse said the task force will bring together multiple federal agencies.
"It's going to be made up of HSI agents, FBI agents, marshal's office, even have a US attorney, federal prosecutor assigned," Morse said.
The task force's primary goal is to target gang activity and reduce gun violence.
"Most of our homicides right now is the suspect and offender know each other, either because of their beefing issues, because of some kind of gang affiliation, because of retaliation-type shootings," Morse said.
The task force is one part of a wider push to bring more federal presence to the capital area to help drive a violent crime crackdown.
"We know, and what we've seen is if you put some people on the ground that are wearing three letters on the back of their jacket, whether that be FBI, HSI, DEA, ATF, all those kind of people, the bad guys take notice," Morse said.
Part of the strategy involves having federal agents make arrests, which would allow violent cases to move more quickly through the federal system rather than through backlogged state courts. Federal courts also frequently hand down harsher sentences.
"They're going to bring extra prosecution powers behind what they do, federal charges," Morse said.
The Baton Rouge Police Department has used the building as its headquarters for about a decade.
Morse said the goal is to have the new office completed by early 2027.
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