LIBERTY, Mo. (AP) — A massive federal operation underway in Kansas City, Missouri, that targets violent crime has been largely welcomed by local and state officials, while some civil rights organizations are strongly opposed to having federal agents involved in solving local crimes.

Under the federal effort — dubbed Operation Legend after 4-year-old LeGend Taliferro, who was fatally shot while sleeping in his bed in Kansas City — 225 federal agents from the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Marshals Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives joined 400...