Eastern District of LA, PSN Project

The Eastern District of Louisiana encompasses the following thirteen parishes:  Assumption, Jefferson, Lafourche, Orleans, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St. Charles, St. James, St. John the Baptist, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, Terrebonne, and Washington. These parishes hold diverse communities, be it through racial, socio-economic, ethnic, or age of the population.  These differences, however, are inconsequential when looking at the recent boom of violent crime that has occurred throughout the parishes.  

The entire area of the Eastern District, has in recent years, been stricken with increasing violent crime. These crimes include carjacking and robberies that are occurring in populated and frequently visited areas during daylight hours. Historically, these types of crimes have been seen as occurring at night and often in high crime-urban neighborhoods. That perception has been challenged of late, with the citizens of the thirteen parishes, scared to go about their daily lives and tasks, for fear of a violent act being perpetrated on themselves or a family member, regardless of the community make up or location.  

Due to this expansion of crimes within our community, the U.S. Attorney’s Office has partnered with local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies, such as, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the U.S. Marshal’s Service, the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office, the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF), New Orleans Police Department, Louisiana State Patrol, and local Sheriff offices, to work together to combat this exploding wave of criminal activity.   

With FY 2023 Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) funding, this law enforcement partnership plans to focus its efforts on Focused Strategic Enforcement.  The goal is to work with local partnerships to identify and reduce perpetrators of semi organized group violence. The PSN partnership is confident that with more public engagement between community partners and local law enforcement agencies that trust will be forthcoming and will result in the practices that will lower the violent crime numbers in the thirteen parishes and reaching the goal of reduce the number of non-fatal shootings and homicides in targeted areas, along with other firearm offenses.