Support to reduce violent crimes and gun violence in Suffolk and Nassau, NY.

PROGRAM ABSTRACT - Project Safe Neighborhoods FY 2022

APPLICANT: THE ROSAMOND GIFFORD CHARITABLE FOUNDATION, Inc.

126 N. Salina Street, Syracuse, New York 13202

PROJECT: Eastern District of New York PSN Enforcement and Prevention Enhancement – Suffolk and Nassau County

CATEGORY: 1

DISTRICT POPULATION: 8 million

FEDERAL FUNDS REQUESTED: $481,285

PROJECT PERIOD: October 1, 2022 - September 30, 2025

RESEARCH PARTNER: John Finn Institute for Public Safety

The Eastern District of New York (EDNY) is an urban-metropolitan district with more than eight million residents. The District will utilize a sustained reduction in violent crime strategies to address violent crime and to reduce gun and gang violence in high crime areas of Suffolk County, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island.

PSN funds directed to Suffolk County will be used to implement strategies that build on the New York State sponsored Gun Involved Violence Elimination (GIVE) structure and provide enhancements to existing strategies that use crime analysis and intelligence gathering to direct its operations. PSN funds will go to the Suffolk County Police Department for targeted enforcement and prosecution of these mostly young Top Offenders. Additionally, funding will allow for the implementation of community outreach, public education, youth initiatives, and violence protection workshops that will further the District’s and the Department of Justice’s joint mission to create and foster safer neighborhoods through a sustained reduction in violent crime.

In addition to Suffolk County, the EDNY will concentrate PSN attention on shooting incidents in Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) will support its efforts to address shootings in these boroughs. As a whole, New York City has experienced a precipitous increase in gun violence since the pandemic began, predominantly driven by a small group of offenders. With PSN funds, the EDNY strategy will expand to support the NYPD. The NYPD will hire an experienced investigative analyst to work in the United States Attorney’s Office of the EDNY tasked with the analysis of shooting incidents in Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island to build federal cases against gun offenders.

The EDNY PSN team will partner with the Long Island Violent Crime (LIVC) task force when appropriate. The LIVC task force includes the Suffolk County Police Department (SCPD), Nassau County Police Department (NCPD), Nassau County Sherriff’s Office (NCSO) and the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office (NCDA).  The EDNY will allocate the required thirty percent of grants funds to support gang-violence task force activities.