2023 Western District Washington PSN Program

PROJECT SAFE NEIGHBORHOODS FY2023 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 FY2023 PSN grant on behalf of the Western District of Washington. 

The primary focus of the FY 2023 PSN grant will be reducing the harmful effects of community gun violence. To achieve this goal, we will continue to foster strategic partnerships across a broad range of state and local partners, collaborating with these entities to bring critical perspectives to strategic planning discussions.

The geographic scope of our PSN Team represents regions from the border of Oregon in the south, the region north of Seattle, and the South Sound. We are collaborating with representatives from the Office of Firearm Safety and Violence Prevention (OFSVP) and the state Attorney General’s Office. These state partners are similarly working towards the goal of reducing violent crime in our district.

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.

The PSN Team regularly meets to assess which 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. For FY2023, we hope to engage with a consultant to audit one of these high-need communities, providing critical technical assistance in deploying a strategy to reduce gun violence in the area.

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 smaller Selection Team(s) to identify the subaward recipients within our district’s communities best positioned to implement the identified strategies, as well as subcommittees dedicated to tracking and partnering with existing local initiatives that complement our district’s goals.