Gun Violence Reduction Efforts in New Jersey's PSN Targeted Area.

The United States Attorney's Office (USAO) for the District of New Jersey serves a population of approximately 9,290,841. Currently, there are four Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN): Camden, Jersey City, Newark and Paterson and these areas will be the focus under FY 2024 funding.  Camden, Jersey City, Newark, and Paterson are included among New Jersey's Urban 15 cities with populations of 50,000 or more. New Jersey's PSN program is a collaborative effort to enhance existing task force initiatives to combat violent crime. 
 
The District will direct resources toward the gang violence task force and prevention in least one of the PSN target area(s). Suppression and prevention efforts will focus in the three geographic areas and surrounding cities, building upon current gun and gang violence initiatives. The project goal is to reduce violent gang and gun crime in hot spots through targeted enforcement of high value individuals and groups, robust and effective prosecution of offenders, and through prevention and community engagement. Funding will support the objective of preventing, responding to, and driving down violent crime; effectively using intelligence to identify high crime areas and prolific violent offenders; and maintaining coordination among law enforcement officials at all levels.  Funds will be directed to local law enforcement agencies in at least one of the target areas to support their involvement in gang task force activities. The remainder of funds will be distributed to community partners in at least one of the four jurisdictions through a competitive process.