Nearly 40 state, county and city police officers will begin targeting Buffalo street gangs starting Monday.
Dubbed, "Strike Force," the special unit replaces the city's Mobile Response Unit after five years of focusing on area drug operations.
Officials say the move is in part a response to the public outrage to the recent mass shootings at a picnic at Martin Luther King Park.
Air units from the Erie County Sheriff's Department and State Police will provide tactical assistance to the force.
The unit's operation will work out of the former precinct on Bailey Avenue in Lovejoy.