2022 PSN WESTERN DISTRICT WASHINGTON

PROJECT SAFE NEIGHBORHOODS FY2022 PROGRAM ABSTRACT

Western District of Washington

The Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs (WASPC), as the fiscal agent for the Western District of Washington’s Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) Team, submits this application for the FY 2022 PSN grant on behalf of the Western District of Washington. 

The primary focus of the FY 2022 PSN grant will be reducing the harmful effects of community gun violence. To achieve this goal, we will form strategic partnerships across a broad range of state and local partners, collaborating with these entities to bring critical perspectives to strategic planning discussions.

First, we intend to broaden the geographic scope of our PSN work within the district to include Clark County to the south, Snohomish County to the north, and Pierce County in South Puget Sound. Next, we will collaborate with representatives from the recently-created Office of Firearm Safety and Violence Prevention (OFSVP) and state Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s office. These state partners are similarly working towards the goal of reducing violent crime in our district but have not previously participated in PSN.

A person is killed with a gun in Washington state every 12 hours. Gun violence is a persistent health and safety threat across the state, and rates of gun violence continue to increase amidst the lingering effects of the pandemic. Community gun violence is defined as intentional acts of interpersonal gun violence committed in public places by individuals who are not related to each other. This type of gun violence has a dramatically disproportionate impact on low-income communities and communities of color, and especially youth and young adults.

The OFSVP is leading a statewide effort to coordinate evidence-based intervention and prevention strategies to address community gun violence. Its work will target the highest risk populations of perpetrators and victims in the highest risk communities. Attorney General Bob Ferguson is committed to reducing firearms fatalities and injuries with a goal towards making our communities safer. The AGO has been involved in critical policy discussions regarding firearms at the state and federal level.

Once formed, the PSN Team will regularly meet to assess what communities are most affected by community gun violence, identifying critical gaps and needs within those communities. With this information, the PSN Team will then identify a strategic outcome to address those needs.

The PSN Team will set the goals needed to reach that outcome, with measurable indicators demonstrating progress in achieving those goals. From there, the Team will identify the strategies needed to achieve the goals, forming a Selection Team to identify the subaward recipients within our district’s communities best positioned to implement the identified strategies.