Louisiana Western PSN Project

FY2021 PSN GRANT ABSTRACT
U. S. Attorney=s Office - Western District of Louisiana
Grants.gov Opportunity Number: O-BJA-2021-94005
Shreveport Police Department, the dual-role fiscal agent, on behalf of the U.S. Attorney=s Office for the Western District of Louisiana (WDLA), requests approximately $150,551.00 in FY2021 PSN grant funds for the period October 1, 2021 – September 30, 2024.
Since 2002, the U. S. Attorney=s Office for the WDLA has developed the PSN Initiative in five regional task forces located in the major cities of the judicial divisions of the District B Shreveport, Monroe, Alexandria, Lafayette and Lake Charles. The WDLA covers more than 2.1 million citizens, 42 of Louisiana=s 64 parishes, and over 200 law enforcement agencies. The District has two major military installations and five recognized Native American tribes.
Due to the success of the WDLA PSN Initiative and PSN Task Forces reinforced throughout the District since October 2017, violent crime prosecutions involving firearms with charges under 18 U.S.C. §§ 922 and 924 have increased significantly, reaching a high point in FY2019. Statistics from the first quarter of 2021 are already at an all-time high. Out of these, an average of 95.2% were sentenced to prison in 2020. See chart below:

Category                                      FY 2017        FY 2018        FY 2019        FY 2020            FY 2021
Matters Received                            81                    174                194                127                132

Defendants Filed                            63                     93                  129                113               122             

Cases Filed                                    50                    88                    121               101               116

Defendants Guilty                         37                     63                     95                90                  68

The specific goals and objectives of the PSN Task Forces in the WDLA are:
(1) To reduce gun and gang crime and violence, thereby creating safer neighborhoods, and sustaining that reduction through prevention, enforcement, and intervention;
(2) To support increased law enforcement programs to identify, target, and arrest violent armed offenders and armed criminal organizations;
(3) To aggressively prosecute violent crimes including, but not limited to, felonious firearm crimes and criminal gang violence; and,
(4) To educate juveniles on gun and gang-related issues and the consequences of violent crime in order to reduce the occurrence of youth-related incidents and increase positive outcomes for at-risk youths, as well as, to provide mentoring strategies for at-risk youth.
Enforcement/deterrence-focused strategies include the following:
(1) To identify the most prolific and violent offenders and to concentrate joint efforts of federal, state and local law enforcement to target and arrest violent offenders;
(2) To increase intensive law enforcement presence in areas of high gun and gang activity; and,
(3) To continue joint federal, state and local screening of gun and gang-related cases, ensuring defendants are charged and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.