ST. LOUIS – A law enforcement network formed in 2021 to stop violent criminals from coming into Illinois from Missouri is getting a new leader.

Former Alton Police Chief Marcos Pulido will now lead the Cross-River Crime Task Force.

“This started as a Madison County-area law enforcement network,” Pulido said. “But now, our law enforcement partners over in St. Charles County, St. Louis County, Missouri State Highway Patrol, they are aware of this program. They are aware of our commitment to protecting our community.”

The task force involves more than 200 law enforcement officials, dealing with violent offenders fleeing from the St. Louis area across the Mississippi River and into Illinois.

Officers have had over a thousand traffic stops over the last two years, leading to major confiscations of drugs and illegal weapons.

That’s not all, according to Madison County State’s Attorney Tom Haine.

“We had a nationwide warrant that was acted upon during a deployment,” Haine said. “An individual who was wanted nationwide, and happened to be on one of our stops when we were doing a deployment, and we initiated that arrest.”

Former task force commander, Colonel Nick Novacich, says there was one specific moment where he felt criminals understood who they were dealing with.

In a span of two deployments, which went from Alton to Venice, a group of smaller police departments stopped a crime spree in its tracks.

“We had set out at 7 p.m., and by 10 p.m., everything was dead,” Novacich said. “It was like all the criminals knew we were there. They all went home, and that was that.”

Novacich feels the organization has made an impact and that residents in Madison County feel safer.