Project Safe Neighborhoods, Northern District of IL

The proposed project period is October 1, 2023 through September 31, 2026 and seeks to focus on reducing crime in Chicago and Rockford, Illinois. In Rockford, the focus is City-wide, in Chicago the effort is focused on the seven most violent police districts in the city: 4th (South Shore); 7th (Englewood); 9th (Back of the Yards); 10th (Lawndale); 11th (Garfield Park); 15th (Austin); and the 6th District (Auburn/Gresham).

The overarching goal is to reduce violent crime in the most violent neighborhoods in Chicago and Rockford by addressing crime before it happens. The Northern District of Illinois (NDIL) Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) Task Force has a collaborative, comprehensive strategy to address all four PSN Design Features which includes activity related to gun trafficking, gun and gang violence, prosecution, felon recidivism, and youth violence intervention and prevention in Chicago and Rockford through previous years PSN funding. Additionally, the NDIL has a research partner as a member of the PSN Task Force not funded under PSN. In FY 23, the PSN strategy will fund a range of initiatives to support focused and strategic enforcement as well as prevention and intervention services in both Chicago and Rockford.

In alignment with the NDIL’s PSN Strategic Plan, primary activities of PSN 2023 include 1) enforcement and prevention through Parolee Forums and parole compliance checks for high-risk offenders in Chicago and Rockford PSN Districts, 2) enforcement through increased prosecution, 3) equipment to mitigate risks for victims, offenders, and officers during enforcement and prevention efforts in Chicago, and 4) equipment to assist the PSN goal of preventing, disrupting, and prosecuting violent crime in Rockford.

After ten percent to the County of Winnebago for fiscal agency functions, and the required travel allotment, NDIL PSN Task Force members identified and voted the following priorities to be allocated using the balance of PSN 2023 funds:

30% to the IL Department of Corrections to address high risk, and gang involved parolees in Chicago’s seven PSN districts and in Rockford’s citywide PSN district;

30% to the Winnebago County States Attorney’s Office to enhance prosecutions in Winnebago County related to the Rockford PSN district;

30% to the Chicago Police Department to purchase standardized equipment to mitigate risk of injury to all parties during apprehension efforts in Chicago PSN districts; and

10% to the Rockford Police Department for equipment to support efforts to apprehend the most violent gun offenders in the Rockford PSN district.