Project Safe Neighborhood Western District

PROJECT ABSTRACT

The USAO Western District of Arkansas is requesting funds to execute the implementation of the approved Strategic Action Plan. The Strategic Action Plan addresses violent crime, including, but not limited to, criminal gangs and felonious possession and use of firearms.  The plans are to continue to coordinate and collaborate as well as establish effective partnerships with local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies to identify and implement strategies to reduce violent crime in the District.  For effective prosecution, emphasis will be on training of law enforcement personnel.  An additional focus will be to support gang task forces.

The jurisdiction’s crime rate and crime drivers are reflective of the increased indictments for drug trafficking and firearm offenses. The increase can be tied to the economic development growth and the increased population in the jurisdiction. Project Safe Neighborhood program (PSN) will allow priority to be given to criminals and/or criminal cases with violent, gangs and drug trafficking criminal histories and emphasis on areas in the District that are experiencing significant presence of high levels of violent crime, firearm offenses, human and drug trafficking.

The summary of PSN grant strategies are to continue to build capacity through specific trainings and the implementation of identified evidence-based interventions, the USAO Western District of Arkansas can be effective in reducing violent/gun crime.

The geographic focus of the PSN intervention(s) will be primarily for the divisions in the district that are heavily populated and reflect an increase in federal prosecutions of firearms and violent crime. The Western District of Arkansas covers