Project Safe Neighborhoods 2024

The Rochester Institute of Technology will serve as the fiscal agent for the United States Attorney’s Office Western District of New York FY2024 PSN funds.  Funds will be used to support Rochester Police Department's (RPD) efforts to address chronic firearm violence in the Jefferson Avenue area of southwest Rochester by instituting a Place Network Investigations (PNI) project. RPD's Violence Prevention Section (VPS) Lieutenant will work closely with RPD stakeholders to develop PNI intervention plans to be executed by a team of proactive officers with knowledge of the neighborhood and active offenders operating there. The Rochester Institute of Technology's (RIT) Center for Public Safety Initiatives (CPSI) will act as the research partner and will conduct interviews and focus groups with community members to guide project implementation. RIT staff will collaborate on intervention design and evaluate impacts of measures implemented with citywide replication as the goal of the initiative. Implementation of this project will strengthen RPD's capacity, in collaboration with other departments and partner agencies as well as the community, to achieve a sustainable reduction of firearm violence in the affected neighborhood.