2007 PSN - Indiana Southern District

Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a nationwide commitment to reducing gun crime, links existing local programs together and provides them with necessary tools. PSN 1) takes a hard line against gun criminals, using every available means to create safer neighborhoods; 2) seeks to achieve heightened coordination among federal, state, and local law enforcement; and 3) emphasizes tactical intelligence gathering, more aggressive prosecutions, and enhanced accountability through performance measures. The United States Attorney in each federal judicial district will lead the offensive. The fiscal agent, in coordination with the PSN Task Force, will allocate funds throughout the community.

The Indiana Criminal Justice Institute plans to use Fiscal Year 2007 PSN funds to continue and expand their prevention, intervention, investigation, apprehension, and prosecution programs in the Southern District of Indiana. The following programs will be funded: 1) Super Achilles Unit, which targets serious repeat offenders in a collaborative investigative team approach; 2) Educating Kids about Gun Violence (EKG), a two-hour interactive media presentation to youth, which will be expanded to conduct Spanish-language presentations; 3) community outreach programs, including 'Choices' aimed at girls and women, juvenile lever-pulling meetings, and the Community Works Program administered by Christamore House, which focuses on empowering individuals and families toward self-sufficiency and discourages future criminal behavior; 4) multi-agency warrant sweeps, collaborative efforts to remove felons from the street; 5) Firearms Unit, which is staffed with three full-time prosecutors devoted to firearm-related cases; 6) addition of a researcher to guide future PSN endeavors and to evaluate current ones; and 7) implement a new DNA retrieval program for firearms, which utilizes state-of-the-art technology to attain a higher offender identification rate.

NCA/NCF