FY21 Project Safe Neighborhood

The New Mexico Department of Public Safety (NMDPS) is seeking $179,077 in federal funding from the 2021 Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN)– with the United States Attorney’s Office, District of New Mexico (USAO D-NM).

 The District’s PSN program will engage a research partner(s) to collect and analyze data to assist in the development of violent crime intervention and prevention strategies that match identifiable problems to reduce violence and foster safer neighborhoods. The district encompasses the entire state of New Mexico. New Mexico is the 36th most populous state in the nation with a population estimate of 2,120,220, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. New Mexico has a violent crime rate of 832.2 which by comparison is more than twice the national average of 366.7 in 2019. This number represents the following crimes which include homicide, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. However, there are many more crimes that are not tracked in a standardized manner nationwide by the FBI in the UCR, which are considered Part II crimes. Part II crimes are tracked locally but because they are not standardized these numbers are often not included in crime reports even though they can make a sizeable difference in the number of crimes taking place in the community.

The PSN Team is in the process of expanding our PSN Targeted Enforcement Area (“TEA”) from one quadrant of the City of Albuquerque to encompass the greater metropolitan area, as violent crime is ubiquitous throughout the metropolitan area. Success will be measured by creating and maintaining strong and stable working partnerships with federal, state and local stakeholders in an “all tools” approach to reducing violence, with the ultimate goal of establishing lasting and statistically significant reductions in gun homicides and non-fatal shootings. The USAO’s PSN program has three main components: (1) data-informed decision-making, (2) targeted enforcement efforts, and (3) targeted deterrence and intervention. PSN FY2021 funds will support the first and third components.

The district will provide leadership and oversight to the project design and implementation plan to successfully meet the goals and objectives required in creating safer neighborhoods. The PSN Team is comprised of representatives from local, state and federal agencies including the City of Albuquerque Police Department, the District Attorney’s Office, NMSP, FBI, DEA, ATF, USMS, Federal Probation, the current fiscal agent, the New Mexico Department of Public Safety, Grants Management Bureau and others.